ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION The construction industry is largely demand driven with construction clients creating the demand for construction work. Clients vary from individuals and small firms, who may only use the services of the construction industry once or a few times in their lifetime, to developers, large international corporations and governments who are regular users of the construction industry. Contractors meet the demands of construction clients by supplying an assembly service, that is, to assemble a building or structure. Although contractors can act in the role of a developer, much of their work comes from contracting. This involves a customized design being constructed with the roles of the client and contractor being defined according to the conditions of contract. The most important of these are that the contractor constructs a building in accordance the drawings and specification and in return for payment by the client. Construction contracting has been defined as “a service which is related to individual construction packages, each one of which may be likened to a firm with a relatively short and finite life” (Cannon and Hillebrandt 1989a).
