Studies by key union specialty contractors indicate that COVID-19 has turned their projects into money-losers and that firms must seek and receive additional payment via change orders to prevent a wave of company failures.
The consecutive surveys,published in May和late July，平均对电气，钣金，HVAC和机械承包商评分的大流行成本效应，发现大量大流行有关的影响降低了生产率和增加的费用。
研究公司的调查结果和评论，总部位于科罗拉多州恩格伍德的Maxim Consulting Group，这两者都认为有18％是对当前项目的价格调整的潜在数字，并且在这些行业中的任何未来工作都会增加。新利18备用网址
Whether general contractors will agree to those amounts and seek them from owners is another matter. Attorneys and construction consultants have been warning for months that the pandemic could trigger a wave of cost-related lawsuits and company failures.
But the specialty contractor associations that paid for the research also offered to members, and for sale to nonmembers, a “change order calculation” tool to help build a case for extra payment and adjustments.
两个关键的工会承包商协会，国家电气承包商协会以及钣金和空调国家承包商协会及其相关基金会，资助了研究并将其推广给其成员。
The issue was framed as a matter of fairness considering the unforeseen pandemic emergency, on a par with other forms of relief created by the federal government.
Maxim Consulting Group的董事Dan Doyon表示，在这种情况下，固定价格合同几乎没有得到任何缓解。
Since construction is considered essential, contractors that remain working during the pandemic are “caught in the middle ground,” said Doyon in the May presentation on electrical work.
“政府试图发挥其作用，但这还不够，不能成为该国各地公司提供的支持的终结。”
Maxim的另一位主管Brian Lightner估计电气承包商的平均生产率损失为7％，以减轻大流行影响。额外的12.4％损失归因于对垂直施工生产率的其他相关影响，例如门口缺乏工人或延误。
For sheet metal, HVAC and mechanical contractors, the initial productivity impact averaged 9.2%, with another 8.7% loss from mitigating the direct impact of the coronavirus.
影响包括额外的手机域名lizations and demobilizations, work fatigue from anxiety, absenteeism, social distancing effects, off-shift work, altered delivery and material reception, inspections and cleaning.
In an eight-hour workday, 85 minutes of worktime was lost, the research found.
“Contractors need to consider seriously the impact on their profitability and seek equitable adjustments,” said Doyon.
Otherwise, construction companies will fail at a lagging rate because of the impact, he said.
