Massachusetts’ Appeals Court decided an unknown site conditions case where the low bid contractor used a very low plug number for its estimated cost to remove the unknown quantity of subsurface rocks. The owner required this figure because it wanted the contractor to bear the cost risk of subsurface surprises.
When the project was underway, the contractor found lots of rock that needed removal. The contractor wanted a change order to compensate for the actual cost of such removal, rather than the number they had specified in their bid package.
The Town said there is no change, your bid figure is what we will reimburse. The Appeals Court agreed.
The case Celco Construction Corp. v. Town of Avon.