The Standard Forms Of Conflict And Dispute Resolution In Construction Conflicts

Construction conflictand disputes are common between the parties involved incontract works. Conflicts may arisewhenissues are not addressed appropriately at the initial stage of contract procurement. For example; such issues would include overlooking clauses of construction risks, dissatisfaction overproject decisionsand lack of technical ability in managing contracts. Conflicts may also arise due to ineffective management in the processes of contracts, unfaithful ethics of professional people involved in the contract and the use of inappropriate contract procurement methods. In such cases, conflict of interest among the parties could abrupt to construction disputes.
Disputes are unsolved issues where either parties disagrees or are dissatisfied with a decision when solving a conflict. Construction disputes are critical and often cause cost overruns in projects.Thus, many literatures have address the issue of conflict and dispute avoidance process (DAP)and recommended that a defined process should be introduced at the initial phases of contract procurement to analyses and mitigate potential issues and provide strategies to avoid conflicts and disputes. The conflict and dispute avoidance process is one of suitable approach that parties involved in the contract could invest on.

Introduction
The Standard Forms of Contracts can be improved to better the dispute resolution process. Despite the Standard Forms of Contracts such as ABIC MW 2008, AS400-1997, AS2124-1992 and FIDIC addressing the dispute resolution clauses to alleviate solving disputes, there are still issues that these contracts may need to be reviewed in detail to deal with the rapid changing construction technologies.
Although initial attempts were made to manage ...

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...s prior it escalate to disputes.
The AS 4000 – 1997 may adopt the concept NEC3 contracts of identifying risks earlier which will enhance addressed issues promptly and managed proactively in avoiding conflicts crystallizing into disputes.
Conclusion
Generally, identifying how conflicts arise to disputes and introducing proactive proceduresis critical for all parties involved in construction projects. Also introducing the conflict and dispute avoidance procedures in Standard Forms of Contracts could prevent disputes and avoid directly engaging an arbitrator. Comprehensive interaction and open discussions among building parties for a common objectives could avoid conflict and would also maintain the project aims on schedule without hiccups. Standard Forms of Contract should incorporate early warning system that will alleviate time delays and cost overruns in projects.