Cost plans will hurt builders, warns CIF
The industry umbrella group said proposals to bring in a new form of contract would transfer too much of the risk of overruns to building companies and would make Ireland less builder-friendly than any other developed country.
CIF president Nobby O’Reilly, who is also chief executive of construction heavyweight Pierse, said the new plans were an attempt to buy cost certainty “at any price” and asked construction companies to take a hit in the event of unforeseen developments such as oil price hikes, delays to projects caused by planning, power or water difficulties, or even in cases where the State body behind the project changed its mind. “A simplistic mechanism is used whereby contractors are asked to include for every possible risk, unforeseen or otherwise. It is simply impossible for a contractor to quantify and price all the risks involved and particularly so in the competitive environment and short timeframe allowed to prepare a tender,” he said.
