Variations or Changes in a Project Specification or Quantity or Drawing is what makes or breaks a Contracting Company if not tracked properly right from the beginning.These Variations cause financial upsets and Project Base Program upset sometimes to a large extent ,but the financial aspect that is triggered due to this is what I would delve into right now and what made me subject of envy and jealousy amongst my colleagues since that brought me nearer to the top levels of my Companies I worked for.

During the first initial phase of my career,and due to little experience it was the odd changes to the structures , like change in sizes of columns / beams or changes in walls and telescopic changes to other quantities especially those whose shuttering was done and had to be removed and/or those that caused changes in plaster or tile quantities were the ones that I went after.When these reflected financially in the Final Bills , bosses were usually happy.In those times without Excel or other tools at my disposal, it would be long calculations and totals/re-totals that would take up office time.As years passed by and various Project scopes and drawings formed part of a daily routine and with various staff trained by me to look out for scope changes , these became easier and contributed to even the Foreman reporting directly and refusing directly the Clients at site to do any work without written instructions whether they had any financial implications or not.

Usually careers of Professionals involve not only being on one side of the table but at various stages wearing different hats like that of a Contractor , Consultant , or a Clients Engineer and the same Project Change will be viewed by these three persons differently either favourably /Contractually and/or with Reservation.

Spanning 30 years,my career went through all these three position chairs and that made me fight as a Contractor or for the Contractor (being a Consultant) no end to an extent where my Colleagues reported or felt I was sort of taken care of..!! if you know what I mean.

It is these small experiences that when I joined a Company in Muscat, the first Day and I was thrust with Drawings that I noticed huge changes in a huge Parking lot from the Tender and Construction Drawings which I promptly pointed out to the CE.We were the Contractors.He immediately arranged a meeting on my first day itself.The Consultant knew for sure I would raise other issues,and asked me to slow on these as the Owner was a big Government official.The CE on the other hand wanted me to let loose and point out.In a matter of 15 days ,I was able to present a clear picture of the financial status on the positive side approx 10k Riyals in 1992.That led to an immediate increment on the 15th day of joining during the Probation period ..!

In one of the Companies in Oman ,our CE would source EPC contractors where we would be the Civil Sub-Contractors for Oil and Gas and other Projects.During such a fast track Project where we quoted, the main EPC contractor finalised within a week and we started Mobilisation and Procurement.The Construction Drawings were provided and our QS and myself started procurement.Before signing off the Purchase Requisitions,it was a mandatory practice of mine to see the Budgeted Quantities /Prices etc.,and was in for a shock that the Requisitions were for 3 to 4 times more than budgeted.Quantities were checked/rechecked ,then where was the mistake.Then obviously the Tender Drawings were referred and we found that these were totally different than the Construction ones given to us now.Even before starting the job , we had to approach the EPC contractor to point out these vast discrepancies ,who reluctantly agreed to the claims.

During one of such sub-contracts during the Defect Liability period (where I was not involved) ,but this case later was assigned to me when we received a stinker letter from the Main Contractor stating that excavations for Cables done were not compacted properly and during the first rain approx 2-3 kms of External Sub station had collapsed and asked for immediate mobilisation and restoration.Since I was not on the original job, I had to dig into the files to see the correspondence , billing and other approvals etc.I noticed a -ve variation at the time of Final Bill subtracted from our bill.On further going through it was the amount subtracted for backfilling those trenches.Further correspondence revealed that since the Cables were not available at that time,the Main Contractor to avoid our staff accomodation expenses payable by him had asked our team to demobilise without backfilling and gleefully deducted those amounts.I checked this out with the team at that Project and they confirmed that those cable excavations were left open and we demobilised.Not to mention a single polite letter pointing out these facts and the negative variation threw our liability out of the window,and the matter closed without any further exchange of letters (no eMails at that time)

Usually Oil and Gas Contracts being EPC,unless specific drawing changes or Specification Changes happen,it is difficult to claim anything under a generic clause included saying the Contractor has checked the drawings , soil conditions , site conditions , weather conditions ,no claims in case of heavy rains etc except perhaps typhoons or hurricanes or terrorism or Earthquakes (act of God).

On a Oman PDO contract ,while laying new irrigation lines on a Residential mountain Area , we undertook Road cutting and relaying the pipes and refilling in say half a day to restore the Traffic.All the permissions from PDO Roads was obtained and started the work , with myself being physically present during such closures as per the Permit authorised.After the 3rd or 4th day , the local Police came up to the site and stopped the work asking for permissions etc which we showed them.But they still stopped the work asking to obtain Police permission,since it was PDO land , but internal traffic came under the Police too,signage etc..The matter was reported and for 3 days ,the entire team was on standby, JCBs , manpower, equipment , pickups, trucks to wait for PDO to approach Police and get the required Permission which they did and the work started.But what about our idling charges..?We put up a claim for 3 days of idling amounting to approx 25k Rials which got approved at every stage and was included in our invoices.However we were shocked when it went for a final audit, the PDO final audit struck it down, why we asked..? But we (PDO) didn’t stop the works,it was the Police, as per Contract (they underlined a clause) ,take your claim to the police,not us.Obviously we had no further arguments, and lost out,closing the matter.

During a Amphitheatre Project where I was the Clients representative right from the Design stage to the Completion stage,the Contractors sponsor a Gulf Local was quite influential and we had to constantly face his GMs claim that he could get anything done.

There were two Otis Lifts in the Amphitheatre for which the Contractor put up a claim directly to the Consultants stating that the height of the Structure had changed from 7 Metres (Lift height) to 17m due to the Roof height being changed (infact the Roof height i.e. the Fabric Roof height was lowered) not affecting the Lifts. This 7m to 17 m was intact a typo error in the final BOQ document, the drawings showed 17 m Lift vertical shaft height right from the beginning,and I pointed it out to the Contractor who wouldn’t relent,saying its a variation.In fact I checked with Otis themselves as to is there any change in equipment or specs, but they confirmed only the Rope length amounting to maybe 200 Rials will be additional which they actually waived off being a Government Project.

The Contractor got a variation of 12,000 Rials approved based on a proportionate calculation, i.e. for 7m cost is X , so 17 m , difference in height 10 m ,additional cost is (X/7) x 17m and claimed the difference of 12k Rials approx which was an outright absurd thing to do.I immediately apprised the Consultants of their mistake in approving this informing them that if they check the previous and latest drawings, the lift height remains the same,and the changes in Roof structure actually didn’t affect the lift at all,the 7M and 17M was actually a typing error in the final draft being mentioned as 7M.The Consultants were embarrassed as they had already signed off and sent to Ministry.As this was not headed anywhere, I took the final call and from the Ministrys side Cancelled the Lift items in totality and informed the Contractor that Ministry would directly procure and install the lifts which we did (at the same price) ,forcing the Contractor to provide Builders work and scaffolding to Sub Contractors free of cost as per Contract Conditions.

On a particular Contract in Salalah being appointed for a Company whose Construction Division was actually on the verge of closing down and strapped of Cash,but they kept it afloat due to an expected big Hotel Project.The Management apprised me that many Final amounts from various Contracts were not coming as the Variations were not finalised,and asked me to look at them on Priority.

The persons handling these were all Juniors ,and I immediately made my own Excel file comparing claims and Clients Comments on those.I found that the Client in principle having accepted the claims ,it was only the minor Rate adjustments and little quantity variations that were affecting the final payout for years.Emails and letters were going up and down on these issues for nothing.Again I advised Management to just accept these minor things as huge amounts were held up due to this.,which they finally did.In a Defense contract I remember an amount of 30K Rials was pending for 3 yrs as a Microwave Oven costing 160 Rials had malfunctioned and our Engineer was insisting on repairing it, whilst the Defense Kitchen in charge was asking for a replacement.The Defense guys called me up and brought it to my notice, saying we aren’t able to close your accounts for this Oven,why don’t you just replace it, which I did within the next day and the Company got their 30K Rials.

With a major Contractor in Dubai on a Fast Track Project, I found even raising the issue of extra works that they asked us to do or refusing to do it would cause repurcussions and violent reactions in Meetings like throwing your Proposal on your face etc.With such a Company,inspite of such reactions I would constantly but surely and on certain occasions would ask for written instructions,though they would behave like Masters at the site and we were slaves at their beckoning.The owner of my Company was at his wits end ,trying to maintain relations but at one end prompting me to somehow get the claims approved.Which I slowly and steadily did thro a maze of paperwork and constant going back and forth by the Companys QS

Painting works, both Interior and Exterior are a subject of many claims and counter claims. On a huge Project where the Exterior painting due to its proximity to extreme Winds from the Sea and even Whiffs of Sea evaporation ,salty to the taste blowing all around had deposited on the building even before the one year Defect Liability period. The Client refused to release our payment insisting on entire repaint of the Externals, and enclosed a report from a Westerner Consultant who visited the Site and provided a report showing Chemical decomposition and complex Chemical reactions etc etc.and charged us for the report and the entire visit/s of the Consultant.When I was at the site inspecting this and putting my hand on the deposits, I noticed that with hand I was able to remove the deposits and reveal the underlying paint protecting the building as per the tough specifications.It was only a superfluous layer of Salt in the air deposited on the wall and turning black due to the dust and smoke of cars and trucks.I arranged a joint meeting at site with the Clients with a bucket of water and a brush and manpower and brushed off a small area of the dust layer revealing the unaffected paint beneath and a brand new shining surface like the original. Suffice to say ,the Client never raised this issue again.