TECHNICAL PAPERS
May 14, 2004

State-of-Practice of Warranty Contracting in the United States

Publication: Journal of Infrastructure Systems
Volume 10, Issue 2

Abstract

This paper presents the results of a comprehensive survey on warranty practices in the United States and a summary of the impact of warranty implementation on highway projects, based on questionnaire responses and interviews of State Department of Transportation (DOT) representatives, contractors, and surety companies. According to the results of the survey, the initial bid price increases due to warranty provisions are estimated to be somewhere between 0 and 15%, while the changes in maintenance and project life-cycle costs are expected to be minimal. Warranty provisions increased the quality of the projects and reduced the need for site inspection and record keeping for state DOTs. The study also revealed the unwillingness of surety companies to underwrite small contractors when the project calls for long term warranty durations.

Get full access to this article

View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.

References

Aschenbrener, T., and DeDios, R. (2001). “Material and workmanship warranties for hot bituminous pavement.” Rep. No. CDOTS-DTD-2001-18, Colorado Dept. of Transportation, Denver.
Byrd, L. G., and Grant, A. A. (1993). “Prerequisites for a successful design/build/warranty highway construction contract.” 〈http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/programadmin/contracts/byrd.htm〉 (May 2, 2003).
Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). (2000). “Warranty clauses in federal-aid highway contracts.” Briefing 〈http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/programadmin/contracts/warranty.htm〉 (May 2, 2003).
Hancher, D. E. (1994). “Use of warranties in road construction.” NCHRP Synthesis 195, Transportation Research Board, Washington, D.C.
Krebs, S. W., Duckert, B., Schwandt, S., Volker, J., Brokaw, T., Shemwell, W., and Waelti, G. (2001). “Asphaltic pavement warranties.”Five-Year Progress Rep., Wisconsin Dept. of Transportation, Madison, Wis.
Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT). (2000). “Implementation of warranted items on construction projects.” Columbus, Ohio.
Russell, J. S. (2000). Surety bonds for construction contracts, ASCE, Reston, Va.
Russell, J. S., Hanna, A. S., Anderson, S. D., Wisely, P. W., and Smith, R. J.(1999). “The warranty alternative.” Civ. Eng. (N.Y.), 69(5), 60–63.
Scheel, D. (1996). “Test & evaluation project #014 (warranty).” California Dept. of Transportation, Sacramento, Calif.
Webb, M. (1994). “Experimental project No. M091-03.” Final Rep., Missouri Highway and Transportation Dept., Jefferson City, Mo.

Information & Authors

Information

Published In

Go to Journal of Infrastructure Systems
Journal of Infrastructure Systems
Volume 10Issue 2June 2004
Pages: 60 - 68

History

Received: May 8, 2003
Accepted: Dec 12, 2003
Published online: May 14, 2004
Published in print: Jun 2004

Permissions

Request permissions for this article.

Authors

Affiliations

Mehmet Emre Bayraktar
PhD Student, School of Civil Engineering, Purdue Univ., West Lafayette, IN 47907.
Qingbin Cui
PhD Student, School of Civil Engineering, Purdue Univ., West Lafayette, IN 47907.
Makarand Hastak
Assistant Professor, Purdue Univ., Division of Construction Engineering and Management, 550 Stadium Mall Dr., West Lafayette, IN 47907.
Issam Minkarah
Professor Emeritus, Dept. of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Univ. of Cincinnati, ERC 730, Cincinnati, OH 45221.

Metrics & Citations

Metrics

Citations

Download citation

If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.

Cited by

View Options

Get Access

Access content

Please select your options to get access

Log in/Register Log in via your institution (Shibboleth)
ASCE Members: Please log in to see member pricing

Purchase

Save for later Information on ASCE Library Cards
ASCE Library Cards let you download journal articles, proceedings papers, and available book chapters across the entire ASCE Library platform. ASCE Library Cards remain active for 24 months or until all downloads are used. Note: This content will be debited as one download at time of checkout.

Terms of Use: ASCE Library Cards are for individual, personal use only. Reselling, republishing, or forwarding the materials to libraries or reading rooms is prohibited.
ASCE Library Card (5 downloads)
$105.00
Add to cart
ASCE Library Card (20 downloads)
$280.00
Add to cart
Buy Single Article
$35.00
Add to cart

Get Access

Access content

Please select your options to get access

Log in/Register Log in via your institution (Shibboleth)
ASCE Members: Please log in to see member pricing

Purchase

Save for later Information on ASCE Library Cards
ASCE Library Cards let you download journal articles, proceedings papers, and available book chapters across the entire ASCE Library platform. ASCE Library Cards remain active for 24 months or until all downloads are used. Note: This content will be debited as one download at time of checkout.

Terms of Use: ASCE Library Cards are for individual, personal use only. Reselling, republishing, or forwarding the materials to libraries or reading rooms is prohibited.
ASCE Library Card (5 downloads)
$105.00
Add to cart
ASCE Library Card (20 downloads)
$280.00
Add to cart
Buy Single Article
$35.00
Add to cart

Media

Figures

Other

Tables

Share

Share

Copy the content Link

Share with email

Email a colleague

Share