An exploratory study of the major causes of construction disputes in the South African construction sector

The construction industry is mired in disputes. It is one of the leading industries that is involved in a number of disputes. This paper examines the major causes of disputes in the construction industry and it further identifies the effects disputes have on projects and investigate the forms of minimizing the disputes and how to resolve them. This study was conducted through the use of secondary data from the use of journals, books and internet to achieve the objective for the study. The review of literature looked into details the different views from different scholars about the causes of disputes then deduce from those views the major causes the major causes of dispute in the South Africa construction sector. The findings from the literature review showed that the major causes of disputes revolve around people, process and project characteristics. It was also mostly mentioned that project uncertainty, contractual problems and opportunistic behaviour cause construction disputes. The purpose of this academic paper was to justify the need to know the major causes of disputes in the South African construction industry and to further establish the effects disputes have on construction and to suggest ways to minimize and resolve disputes in projects. It is said that the people, process and projects characteristics are major causes of disputes and so is the project uncertainty, contractual problems and opportunistic behaviours. As a way to resolve disputes, alternative dispute resolutions are put in place and so are adjudication, arbitration and litigation