Pinnell/Busch: Project Management Consultants for the Design & Construction Industry

American Arbitration Association
Dispute Resolution Journal - February 1999
Reviewed by Cindy Fazzi

How to Get Paid for Construction Changes: Preparation, Resolution Tools and Techniques.
By Steven S. Pinnell, New York: McGraw-Hill, 1998. Hardcover. 504 pp. $59.95.

How to Get Paid for Construction Changes is a comprehensive claims manual that should come in handy for contractors, attorneys, and construction professionals. It provides a step-by-step explanation and description of the procedures for preparing change-order requests and claims. More importantly, the book provides information about avoiding and resolving construction disputes through ADR methods such as partnering, mediation, and win/win negotiation.

“ADR was a reaction to the overly claims-conscious attitude of some contractors and the risk-shifting approach of some owners and designers," writes Pinnell, an engineer and construction manager with more than 25 years' experience in the management of engineering and construction projects. (See article, page 16.)

He notes the importance of dispute review boards, neutral experts, mediation, and other ADR methods to diffuse conflict and resolve disputes. He gives partnering a special mention. "Partnering improves attitudes from confrontation, claims-consciousness, and win/lose negotiation toward team building, dispute resolution, and collaborative problem solving," writes Pinnell. "It integrates the goals of all parties (the owner's need for a quality, on-time, under-budget project and the contractor's need to make a profit) with a common mission statement and a methodology to avoid and resolve disputes."

Early on, the author discusses the significance of a dispute management program (DMP), which he defines as a "philosophy and a comprehensive set of techniques for avoiding and resolving disputes." A DMP encompasses a broad spectrum of ADR methods, ranging from proactive to reactive strategies. It includes project management policies that ensure projects are better managed while minimizing errors and other sources of disputes, training in interpersonal skills for the project team, partnering, dispute avoidance and collaborative problem solving techniques (such as the use of dispute review boards and neutral experts), win/win negotiation techniques, and a change order management program. A DMP also includes ADR methods, which is considered here as separate from dispute avoidance techniques and which includes mediation and binding arbitration.

While the purpose of this review is to focus on the parts of the book that touches on ADR, there is so much more to Pinnell's book that anybody involved in the construction industry would find useful. It is a book that defines terms and concepts and provides a readable explanation of procedures for beginners and students. It offers practical advice and tips for those who are already actively involved in the construction business, and it can serve as a valuable reference for those who have considerable experience in the industry.