Content area
Full Text
Ever wonder whether the American Institute of Architects' General Conditions for Contracts of Construction, generally referred to as the 2007 AIA A201, or the ConsensusDOCS 200 Owner/General Contract Agreement is more advantageous to contractors? We all are familiar with the AIA contract documents that are drafted by architects. The AIA forms have been around for ages, except significant changes have been made in the 2007 editions. The July 2008 and August 2008 issues of CBMR addressed those changes. This issue addresses the changes to the AIA Construction Manager document series that was just released. The ConsensusDOCS, on the other hand, are fairly new forms to the industry, having been released in late 2007, with new sections being developed regularly to deal with topics such as building information modeling (BIM). ConsensusDOCS are form documents developed in collaboration with designer, owner, contractor, and subcontractor groups. The "DOCS" at the end of "Consensus" is to represent these groups.
Where do you get a fairer shake? The arguments look pretty good in favor of the ConsensusDOCS for contractors on some important provisions. We understand that in many instances you might not be in a position to tell an owner you want to use one contract over another. The comparative provision information can be used to help you negotiate more favorable language for your contract.
At the Associated General Contractors of America's 90th Annual Convention, several sessions addressed the 2007 version of the AIA A201 and the ConsensusDOCS. One session compared certain provisions of the 2007 AIA A201 and the ConsensusDOCS 200 for contractors and owners. It was set up to show how certain provisions in each contract compare by playing out different scenarios involv- ing the architect, owner, and contractor. There was an AIA "job trailer," and a Consen- susDOCS "job trailer" with different people playing the roles of owner, architect, and contractor. The session presenters were attorneys Ron Ciotti ([email protected]) and Joel Lewin ([email protected]), of Hinckley, Allen and Snyder LLR and Harper Heckman, of Nexsen Pruet, PLLC (hheckman@ nexsenpruet.com). Here are some of the changes highlighted by presenters.
Duty to inspect and measure - AIA A201-2007 Articles 3.2.2 and 3.2.4 versus ConsensusDOCS 200 Article 3.3.3: The AIA contract imposes an affirmative duty on the contractor to take...