t It is necessary and useful to differentiate destructive from constructive conflict
and avoidable from necessary claims; and also to minimize disputes arising from unresolved conflict and claims in construction projects. This paper analyses such needs and
proposes means of meeting them through an appropriate classification of construction
claims; an estimation of their relative significance in terms of magnitude and frequency;
and an identification of the proximate and root causes of the significant claims. A hierarchy of such claims, proximate and root causes is presented, based mainly on data
collected from 61 projects and on 46 responses to questionnaires in Hong Kong. Measures of the relative significance of the claims categories are also presented. The results
are reinforced by observations from parallel studies in Hong Kong and elsewhere, as well
as from the literature. Strategies are suggested to avoid the avoidable and mitigate the
unavoidable or unavoided claims, through controlling the controllable causes. Management focus is also recommended on controlling the causes of those categories of claims
and disputes that are seen to be significant in terms of higher impact and/or probability of
occurrence.