Investigating the root-cause of legal disputes over defective construction

![CDATA[Construction industry is of critical significance to the development of Australia regarding economic and social aspect, contributing one of the largest portions to Australia's GDP and providing residential building, infrastructure and functional facilities to the operation of the cities as well as job opportunities to the country. Construction disputes are common trait of this industry causing detrimental consequences to the construction projects leading to financial loss and delays in construction projects. Although there is a considerable amount of research and knowledge contributing to the study of dispute causation, legal disputes remain prevailing and hinder the process of construction, especially from the cost perspective. In order to improve our understanding of the causation factors underlying the legal disputes this research was conducted by examining the details of recent legal cases in NSW. Our objective was to determine the extent of the impact of insufficient work-front instruction including missing specifications on occurrence of defective construction work. As a result, this research discusses that poor workmanship as a major causation factor is a direct derivative of vague job description. The observation that patent defects readily identifiable by inspection were a common source of dispute supports our hypothesis that ambiguity of the task provides tradespersons the opportunity to deliver a sub-standard job. Professional ethics and technical skills of the tradies have been discussed to have a moderating effect. Clear and precise specifications are inevitable if disputes are to be reduced.]]