As you learned in this chapter, recovering costs from the designer for errors and omissions and recovering back charges from contractors for failure to follow specifications and contractual obligations are critical factors in controlling costs. Cost recovery is always difficult, but it’s harder when you complicate it with a system driven by schedule. Clear specifications on responsibility for fault should be built into every contract, and those provisions should be rigidly enforced. 

When something goes wrong:

1. Is it the owner’s fault for advertising bids before design was complete?

2. Is it the contractor’s fault for going ahead and building the structure with insufficient drawings?

3. What are the ethical questions that are raised here? What are the implications for schedule-driven projects?