ABSTRACT
The contractor sought to claim that the change ordered to the positioning of his tea cabins and clocking-in huts constituted a variation. A vital factor in the successful control of variations is the timing of price negotiations. The contractor seeks to utilize the contract as a means of disciplining the employer's engineers. Both the contractor and the employer are otherwise stuck with the rates and prices contained in the bills of quantity. The contractor also has the right to advise the engineer when the variation is ordered of the extent to which it may in his opinion prejudice him in fulfilling any of his obligations under the contract. The purchaser will be thinking that the contractor is trying to take him for a ride, but may additionally be genuinely unappreciative of what trouble and cost his simple instruction has caused.
