Every year $60 billion is spent on lawsuits in the US, nearly $5 billion of which is accounted for by the construction industry. Construction litigation expenditures have increased at an average rate of 10% per year. If disputes can be avoided by adopting proper dispute avoidance strategies, all stakeholders could save considerable amount of money and time.

According to RICS Professional Guidance on avoidance of conflicts and disputes, main conflict avoidance processes are as follows:

* Good management,

* Clear contract documentation,

* Partnering and alliancing,

* Good project management,

* Good client management,

* Good constructor management,

* Good design team management

* Good payment practices,

* Record keeping, and

* Regular reporting and proactivity.

PMCG adopts the RICS dispute avoidance strategy and puts it into practice across every aspect of project lifecycle. In other words, all the Advisory services, i.e. Contract Administration, Planning and Delay Analysis, Cost Management and Claims and Changes Management, are carried out by having due regard to dispute avoidance strategies.

Moreover, PMCG’s experts can also be appointed when the parties to a project acknowledge that there is a problem and wish to resolve it before the problem escalates into a dispute. At that stage, it is easier to avoid the problem into escalating to a dispute because the parties have not become defensive enough or lose sight of the obvious facts in order to win their argument. PMCG takes a proactive approach to resolve the problems at that stage to avoid costly dispute resolution mechanisms such as arbitration and litigation.

Even if a dispute has become apparent, it is important to ensure that it does not escalate. Settlement of disputes amicably at an early stage is also important for the sake of project success and avoid unnecessary costs.

PMCG’s experts are well versed in identifying dispute sources, developing dispute avoidance strategies and taking preventive measures. The earlier that PMCG’s experts are appointed during the execution of the project, the better PMCG can address the likely issues and adopt a strategy to limit the Client’s exposure to devastating effects of disputes.