Silva, P M; Domingo, N and Ameer Ali, N A N (2025) An interactive pre-contract dispute avoidance toolkit for New Zealand construction industry. Construction Innovation, 25(7), pp. 268-291. ISSN 1471-4175
Abstract
Purpose: Avoiding disputes in the New Zealand (NZ) construction industry is crucial but challenging. While many studies focus on post-contract measures, there is limited research on pre-contract dispute avoidance, especially in traditionally procured projects, which are more prone to disputes in NZ. Therefore, the purpose of this is to study investigate pre-contract steps to avoid potential disputes in NZ and present the findings in an interactive toolkit. Design/methodology/approach: An analysis of 35 construction-related court cases in NZ was conducted to identify the causes of disputes, and 14 expert interviews were carried out to collect recommendations for the pre-contract stage to avoid potential disputes. The gathered data were analysed manually, then recorded and coded using NVIVO software. Microsoft Power BI was used for data modelling and toolkit interface development (data visualisation). During one-to-one interviews and focus group sessions, 16 industry practitioner responses were considered to validate and refine the toolkit. Findings: The toolkit has been located on an online platform, allowing users to access it conveniently. The finalised toolkit provides a user-centred and flexible way to select the pre-contract stage, party and theme to visualise dispute avoidance steps and their relationships towards the causes of disputes. Originality/value: The toolkit offers guidance for avoiding disputes in traditionally procured projects before construction begins, focusing on contractual understanding, practices, contract formation and expectations. The interactive nature of the toolkit assists practitioners from contractor, client and consultants to configure dispute avoidance steps in a user-friendly manner. The tender preparation and pricing stage is identified as the stage where more focus is worthwhile to minimise potential post-contract disputes. This toolkit could evolve into new versions for other procurement methods, and its outcomes could train language models for improved conversation handling.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | dispute avoidance; interactive toolkit; New Zealand construction; pre-contract stage |
| Index terms: | data visualization, focus group, interview, toolkit, practitioner, methodology, dispute, platform, New Zealand, pricing, procurement method, data modelling, contract formation, construction industry |
| Subjects: | research methods, digital design, Geography, practitioner, economic analysis, contractual arrangements, software systems, industry analysis, data collection methods, dispute resolution, contract formation, data science |
| Topics: | Roles and Professions, Business Strategy, Research Practice, Contract Administration, Digital Applications, Procurement, Engineering Principles, Geographical Context, Legal Issues |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCTE |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here