Associate Violetta Drondina spoke about the main problems and current practice in relation to firm price contracts and increases in the price of work under contractor agreements.

She explained how contractors can use turnkey and firm fixed price contracts to minimize the impact of price increases, and analyzed the increasing tendency in 2022-2023 for contractors to bring claims to amend the contract price because of increases in the cost of materials and equipment.

She also commented on the tendency for contractors to increase their price quotes to reflect the additional work caused by changes in technical documentation, and concluded with a number of practical recommendations on how customers can structure contracts to reduce the risk of future cost increases.

In the same conference Senior Associate Roman Sadovsky discussed the issue of insurance coverage for real estate construction and operational risks.

He talked about how the events of the past few years have led to:

1. significant increases in insurance premiums;

2. the adoption of tougher underwriting policies by insurers;

3. increasingly onerous insurance conditions (the appearance of new exclusions and expansion of existing exclusions from coverage);

4. insurers’ adoption of a stricter approach to claims settlement.

In view of these tendencies, the policyholder needs to work even more carefully with the text of the insurance contract in order to ensure that it correctly reflects the extent of coverage agreed with the insurer and for which the insurance premium is paid.