Besides a plethora of regulations and occurrences that building companies need to pay careful attention to, building disputes might be at the very top of the list. Countless construction companies have gone through some form of building dispute from petite ones related to miscommunication or payment deadlines to large ones that have led to court and huge money loss. Due to various previous experiences, building companies can now successfully avoid and manage building disputes. Even though construction disputes are still a common occurrence, it's fair to note that they have significantly lessened the result with minimum to scarce risk to profitability. Don't get caught up in non-solving consequences disputes and follow these tips on how to avoid and manage your building disputes with ease.

  • Alteration to the existing scope of work

Almost all building projects are done according to the original building concept, and once there are some mishaps or unplanned occurrences, there's bound to be a disputed issue. Some challenges are usually circumstantial and unavoidable, however, unless you inform the contractor, building manager, clients, or any other stakeholder, severe problems might arise. For that matter, you can easily avoid building disputes related to changes to the original scope of work by reporting all big and small changes to all parties from subcontractors to architects. Update all the documents and any items related to the changes to the original plan to the cloud to ensure all paperwork is neat and organized.

  • Have legal experts by your side

One way to ensure everything runs smoothly is to receive clear and tangible advice from legal experts. In Sydney alone, numerous new buildings are being constructed every week, and if there were to be any unregulated paperwork, concerns, conflicts, or payment irregularities, you ought to have legal professionals by your side to give you the right advice and solve the matter by law. Therefore, the key is to hire an expert building dispute lawyer who has sufficient professional experience dealing with various building disputes. Upon seeking out eligible legal counsel, you can rest assured that you will be fully covered with all the legal amenities necessary in building disputes. Having law experts giving you advice even before the problem arises can save your business a lot of money, and sanity.

  • Improve documentation and contracts

In order to avoid building disputes on the first hand you should focus on drafting every single documentation meticulously. Clear and improved documentation is the pivotal thing to be done if you wish to avoid any building disputes. What tends to worry most contractors is the legal wrangles related to ambiguous contract language. Those who aim to have all things in order before the start of a construction project might want to specify all contractual obligations, rules, and requirements. Ensure that all documents are settled and updated with any changes especially specifying any changes in order provisions, owner-caused delays, differing site condition alternations, etc. 

  • Opt for alternative dispute methods

If there was not possible to avoid construction disputes or mitigate problems, then the best option is to seek mutual eloquent alternations before you resort to full-fledged conflict. Search for different resolution prospects with the contractors in order to maximally reduce conflict in the first place. If both parties agree on settling for the same dispute measures in an oral agreement or with an arbitration to help one another, then you would more likely reach to satisfactory result. In other cases, other dispute methods could be applicable such as the long mitigation or litigation process but that may not deliver beneficial results as there are plenty of waiving liability claims and other items that make the entire dispute process lengthy and unpresentable to the public eye.

  • Settle for negotiation option or scheduling technique

Any form of building dispute is never easy for any party, however, those who are seeking the mildest way to avoid the disputes might want to try out the negotiation option. Negotiating can lead to amicable conclusions on both disputable sides and even to satisfactory results, but you ought to have everything thoroughly planned out and scheduled. Besides constructing an effective dispute regulation that doesn't necessarily involve mitigation or litigation, you can maximally schedule things in detail. This involves coming up with a plan for when and how you would assess the problem and damage, when to set the baseline start-up project and inform all parties to decrease potential disputes, etc. With an accurate schedule, you would be able to neatly organize the negotiation between the parties and end up with a successful and less expensive building dispute.

  • Experiment with the mediation method

If neither party wants to spend a fortune in a building dispute and lose more than they have invested, but at the same time come to a fruitful resolution, they might want to try out mediation and arbitration as another resolving method. Mediation involves a neutral third party to help with the building dispute. Besides having no or minimal legally binding consequences, with mediation you can let a third party analyze and come to a logical conclusion to the conflict and help resolve the dispute. Of course, that third person must be a professional individual with sufficient experience in resolving construction disputes so they can manage the mediation with a clear and knowledgeable mind.




The outcome of any building dispute relies on an abundance of factors. However, by implementing the above-mentioned tips you would be able to avoid and manage it with ease.