Cian BrennanFounder, Quantum Contract Solutions · Founder

How to Turn Negotiation Mistakes into Learning Opportunities in Construction

Name: How to Turn Negotiation Mistakes into Learning Opportunities in Construction
Uploaded: 2023-07-27T22:00:34+00:00
Duration: 41 s
Channel: Cian Brennan
Description: A construction negotiator explains inversion thinking: imagining the worst negotiation strategy, then flipping it. Many firms wait until contract award…

27 Jul 2023 · 1 min

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A construction negotiator explains inversion thinking: imagining the worst negotiation strategy, then flipping it. Many firms wait until contract award to submit clarifications, flood owners with irrelevant ones through lawyers, then switch from non-contractual to hyper-contractual behavior when problems hit. These mistakes damage relationships and delay projects.

Chapters

terminology called inversion thinking. If you want to figure something complicated out, figure out how to ruin something and then flip it. If we wanted to do it really badly, this is how I do it really badly. At bidding time, when they've asked you to submit your departures or your clarifications, I wouldn't do it then. We want to wait until they're just about to award the contract before we try and negotiate the contract, because that really pisses them off because it's going to delay it by 2 or 3 weeks. He's just about to award a contract and then you try and negotiate it. Get a lawyer to do it and send in loads of clarifications. Most of which don't even matter to your company. Then on the project, don't be contractual at all. And then when things start to go wrong, all of a sudden get really contractual, ramp it up. That is the classic way, and so many companies do that. That's how to do it completely wrong.