"Article VI. The Contractor shall com plete the several portions, and the whole of the work comprehended in this Agreement, by and at the time or times hereinafter stated, to wit: In prosecuting the work, the real value of this article is often interfered with Any im portant alterations or additions made on plans or specifications that require various changes to be made, will involve differences in the time of completing the several parts of the work; and, unless corresponding changes are made with the consent of both parties to the provisions of this article, its effect is liable to be greatly lessened. This subject has been discussed above.
"Article VII. Should the Contractor be de layed in the prosecution or completion of the work by the act, neglect, or default of the Own er , of the Architect , or of any other contractor employed by the Owner upon the work, or by any damage caused by fire or other casualty for which the Contractor not responsible, or by combined action of workmen in no wise caused by or resulting from default or collusion on the part of the Contractor , then the time herein fixed for the completion of the work shall be extended for a period equivalent to the time lost by reason of any OT all the causes aforesaid, which extended period shall be determined and fixed by the Architect ; but no such allowance shall be made unless a claim therefor is presented in writing to the Architect within forty-eight hours of the occurrence of such delay." Here we have the contractor released from the time insurance feature of this contract, if he is delayed in the prosecu tion of the work by the act, neglect, or default of the owner or of anyone em ployed by him or by any outside agency the responsibility for which is not trace able to the contractor. In order to avoid disputes as to what delays have been caused by outside agencies, the burden is placed upon the contractor of notifying the owner through the architect in writing within forty-eight hours of such delays. Therefore, the architect does not receive such written notice, the burden of completing the work within the time limit still rests with the contractor.
"Article VIII. The Owner agrees to pro vide all labor and materials essential to the con duct of this work not included in this contract, in such manner as not to delay its progress, and in the event of failure so to do, thereby causing loss to the Contractor, agrees that will reimburse the Contractor for such loss; and the Contractor agrees that if shall delay the progress of the work so as to cause loss for which the Owner shall become liable, then shall reimburse Owner for such loss.
Should the Owner and Contractor fail to agree as to the amount of loss comprehended in this Article, the determination of the amount shall be referred to arbitration as provided in Article XII of this contract." This means that if there are other con tractors upon the work, the owner must see that they do not interfere with the performance of this contract. Where upon one building a plumbing contractor, a carpenter contractor, a mason contractor, and various others are working at the same time, it is not at all difficult for one of the contractors, in case he fall behind in his work, to point to acts of one or more of the other contractors which afford him a plausible excuse; and for this reason many architects prefer to have the whole work conducted under one general con tractor to whom the other contractors will be subsidiary. As a general thing, one con tractor can manage other contractors, and get them to do their work for him more satis factorily and efficiently than the architect can get several contractors of equal standing to work together. In New York City a great deal of work is done in this way, the general contractor employing the others, and the architect simply having one organization to direct. A great deal of work in this way is done on a cost plus 10 per cent basis, the gen eral contractor guaranteeing the total cost not to exceed a certain figure. Many con tractors have worked up a large business in this way, the owner finding upon the day of settlement that he is paying 10 per cent to the general contractor on all sub-contracts, and that the general contractor does practi cally no work himself, but simply runs an of fice which is a clearing house for the other contractors, enabling him to charge practical ly all of his expenses, except those of one bookkeeper and his office force, to the vari ous owners for whom he is working. Under such circumstances, 10 per cent is a very nice profit. The owner should be entitled to have the architect direct all of the contractors and run the work in this way without sub-letting. Many contracts contain a clause to the effect that no sub-letting shall be allowed except upon written consent of the owner or of the architect.