10 Steps To Win Every Construction Dispute
10 Steps To Win Every Construction Argument:
Here’s how to never lose a construction dispute again.
Whether you’re the homeowner or the builder, disputes arise occasionally and how you handle them can inform the tone or morale of the jobsite afterwards. How do you win these disputes?
Reframe what it looks like to win. You get what you want, but nobody else does? That’s a really shortsighted way to look at things. You may hit everyone with the hot napalm of logic and reason, play the blame game, and you ride off into the sunset, but you’ll never work with anyone in that meeting again. Short term win, long term loss. The construction industry is a people industry, and eviscerating relationships just to win one dispute never ends well.
We must look at a win from the project’s perspective, what does it look like for the project to win? Here’s what to bring to every construction dispute, to give you the best chance for a positive outcome. The first three are things you can do before the issue even arises that will increase your chances.
Create a culture on your jobsite for collaboration and empathy
Bringing a sincere, positive attitude will pay off in so many different ways during your project. I’ve been on jobsites where there is so much tension and every little thing is contentious, that everyone is afraid to make a mistake and nobody wants to be there. The default setting for everyone will be defensive and confrontational. Having and showing grace and empathy for all workers means most of them will bring their best to work. This attitude will bleed into any issues that arise on site, positive outcomes are much more likely.
2. Review the documentation
- what has been agreed upon? If problems arise on site, and a site meeting is required to clear things up, it is critical to make a neutral third party out of the contract. A contract is an agreement between parties, and should be referenced in the event of disagreement. “Our contract states” rather than “I think….” will go a long way to getting solutions on the table sooner. If the dispute in question doesn’t reference the contract specifically, then we’ll move to the next step.
3. Take a breath and truthfully examine your role.
Sometimes we don’t want to admit it to ourselves, but we’ve played a role in this dispute, even if we aren’t directly at fault. We likely could have done something differently to help avoid at least part of the problem.
4. Humour
- when you arrive on site or in the office, a well placed, self deprecating remark will diffuse the tension right away. It allows everyone to take a breath and relax a little.
5. Listen first, speak second.
In a construction dispute, many times parties are so eager to state their case to prove they are not at fault, they end up talking and talking, often going in circles. If you can listen first to the entirety of the other parties’ position and talk second, the other person will feel heard and be more receptive to your point of view. I often use an extended silence to induce them to keep talking, as sometimes they’ll negotiate against themselves or come up with a solution just so they don’t feel the uncomfortable silence. Interviewers do this all the time to keep their guests divulging information. When it is your time to talk, admit your role in the dispute right away, it will diffuse tension and allow others to do the same without feeling like they’ll get blamed
6. Approach the problem with a solutions mindset - not an emotional mindset
Approaching the problem with a solutions mindset is not finding fault or pointing the finger, that part can be ignored for now. As a group, you need to find a solution that benefits the project. Using words like “we” and “us” to describe the group collectively rather than “you” or “I” can go a long way in fostering a team environment. Even using “right” and “wrong” have connotations that will get someone very defensive. Use “correct” and “incorrect” or “different” instead. If you think I’m splitting hairs, here give it a try.
7. Ask for input
- No one has a monopoly on good ideas, so ask input from everybody, even juniors or apprentices if they have ideas on how to solve your issue. Everybody on the jobsite brings their own experience and expertise that can help, working collaboratively makes everyone feel heard and seen, and can lead to much better results than if the designer or PM tries to come up with a solution independently.
8. Ask what would it take to __________?
- Once some solutions are proposed, ask “what would it take for us to do this?” and turn the experience into a positive experience, building momentum in a positive direction. Once a course of action is chosen, emphasize the positive side of solving a problem, keeping that morale high will help the workers feel good about coming up with solutions.
9. Get the solution in writing,
Usually by a recap email to all parties. Make sure to include a concluding line “please advise of any errors or omissions” in case someone else misunderstood or had differing takeaways.
10. Retrospectively, ask 5 whys
This is the part where you can learn how to avoid similar issues in the future. Asking 5 whys is a critical part of learning the root cause of a problem, with the intent of avoiding the problem in the future. It could look like this:
The plumber put the sink’s drain in the incorrect spot. WHY?
He wasn’t aware it was a pedestal sink with a center drain WHY?
He wasn’t sent the updated spec sheet after the client selected the sink WHY?
Our PM didn’t receive the updated spec sheet in time from the client WHY?
The client wasn’t aware of the deadline for making plumbing fixtures selections WHY?
The client decision list wasn’t filled out properly with an updated schedule.
So the action or process update derived from this, is ensuring to update the decision list whenever the schedule is updated, so it doesn’t happen again.
There is a lot of information here, but the key thing to remember is to approach these meetings with grace and a sincere desire to listen and learn.
Thanks for reading…
Aaron
