Source: https://watercollaborativedelivery.org/, February 27, 2023
By: John Coffin

Design-build contracts continue to mature and evolve in many aspects, including terms related to liability. In the world of water infrastructure delivery, design-build most often pairs a contractor and a design firm. The well-established risk management tools for these entities—developed over decades of exposure in the design-bid-build model—account for liabilities typical to their work. Similarly, the customary risk profile for traditional design contracts and construction contracts has been driven by tried-and-true contract terms and conditions that incorporate well-established legalese and carry long precedence. The advent of design-build in the water industry has created a relative reset of these terms, and the market has responded with development of standard contract document templates which are now widely adopted. One aspect of these contracts that continues to develop, however, relates to limitation of liability. Read more.