Remember the one about differing site conditions? (just kidding, that was never a joke). However, any site contractor knows that these differing conditions can be the bane of its existence. Recently, the Danville, Virginia Division of the Federal District Court for the Western District of Virginia weighed in on the differing site conditions debate.
In the case of Haymes Brothers Inc. v. RTI Int’l Metals Inc. the Court interpreted a clause in a contract allowing for an “equitable adjustment” to the contract price in the event that the soils were of a different “type” than those known to the subcontractor at the time of its bid.
The basic facts are these. Haymes Brothers bid for site work and later found boulders and other conditions in the soil that significantly increased its costs to perform the excavation and site work. Of course, Haymes asked for an equitable adjustment to its original contract price, and RTI, of course, denied the request. The excavation work cost Haymes over a million dollars more than its original bid and so, Haymes sued.
