Beyond the responsibility for “Reasonable Review” as described in Section 3.5.4, the contractor may be held responsible for disclosing patent errors. These are mistakes so obvious or glaring (patent) that any competent contracting professional should have observed them through a reasonable review.
Example: A masonry contractor’s experience will be that masons always incorporate flashing and ties in every cavity wall they ever build. If the details on this project, however, show no flashing or ties, the defect may be considered to be so obvious that the masonry contractor should have at least raised the question.
It is interesting to note that the more “obvious” the error, the more in question the designer’s competence becomes.
Defense: One argument for being paid extra for the work in question is simply that if the design mistake had been observed prior to bid, the cost for the additional work would have been added to the bid at that point. The greater risk, however, is that of consequential damage resulting from the work’s being constructed with the error, and the necessity of removing incorrect work and rebuilding.
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