CONTRACT ARRANGEMENTS FOR PILING WORKS

Abstract

There are currently 3 main contract arrangements for piling works. These are direct contract, domestic sub-contract and nominated sub-contract. There are many variations within the direct contract arrangement. Each arrangement gives rise to its own set of problems. Therefore, this study investigates the advantages and disadvantages of each contract arrangement. It also identifies the professionals, piling contractors and general building contractors' preferred contract arrangement for piling works. The methodologies adopted are postal survey of professionals, piling contractors and general building contractors and unstructured interviews with several practitioners in the industry. The survey reveals that the professionals and piling contractors prefer piling and cutting of piles to be packaged as a direct contract. However, general building contractors prefer piling works to be undertaken by domestic sub-contractors. Alternative contract arrangements like "design and pile" and term contracting may be the possible solutions to reduce the inherent problems in the current arrangement