CHAPTER XII 



EXTRAS AND ALTERATIONS 



PAGE 



1. Generally 129 



2. Terms of the contract as to 



extras 130 



3. Extras in the case of a 



" lump-sum " contract ... 131 



4. Extras where contract is 



under seal... ... ... 132 



5. Authority of engineer as to 



extras 132 



6. How extras may be autho- 

 rised 132 



PAGE 



7. Extras wholly outside the 



contract 133 



8. Limitation to the extra 



clause 133 



9. Extras ordered by em- 

 ployer ... 134 



10. Effect of final certificate 



on extras ... 131 



11. Whether arbitration clause 



applies to extras ... 135 



1. Generally. Extras may be defined as work not expressly 

 or impliedly included in the original contract (for a more 

 exhaustive definition, see Chap. VI., 34, ante). Questions 

 relating to extras are among the most difficult of those which 

 have to be decided by the engineer. The matter has to be 

 considered from several points of view. The employer, who 

 probably reckons on the work being done for a fixed sum, 

 does not want the limit to be exceeded. The contractor may 

 find the task he has undertaken to be impossible, unless he is 

 allowed to charge for extras. Consequently the engineer, who 

 is in a middle position, is often in a dilemma. On the one 

 hand he does not wish to make a slovenly job by refusing 

 to allow as an extra something which has been inadvertently 

 omitted from the specification ; for unless his skill be some- 

 thing more than human it will be almost impossible to provide 

 for everything when executing a very large contract. On the 

 other hand he does not like to ask his employer to pay a large 

 bill for extras. 



The gravity of the liability which may be imposed on a 

 contractor by extras is illustrated by the case of Rigby v. 

 Bristol (Mayor), 1860, 29 L. J. Ex. 359. There an Act em- 

 powered a corporation to scour an inland harbour, and they 

 did so by taking up the mud in barges, and letting it out 

 at the mouth of the harbour, so as to be carried down the 



L.A.E . K 



