Final answer:
The correct answer to the student's question about unit-price contracts is C) they break down a project into work items defined by units with individual prices. This method is flexible and allows for price adjustments based on actual work done, making it suitable for projects with hard-to-predict work quantities.
Step-by-step explanation:
A unit-price contract, often used in construction, is a type of contract where the work is broken down into individual items or units, such as cubic yards or square feet, and specific prices are set for each unit. This type of contract is flexible and allows for adjustments to the contract price based on the actual quantities needed to complete the project.
The correct answer to the student's question is C) breaks down the project into work items that are defined by units such as cubic yards, square feet, etc. and prices are provided for these individual items. This approach allows for an adjustment of prices and ensures that payment reflects the actual amount of work done or resources used, adapting to situations such as inflation or changes in the scope of the project.
Unit-price contracts are particularly useful for projects where the quantity of work items cannot be accurately determined in advance, such as many horizontal construction projects including highway and sewer-line construction. Despite the suggestion that these contracts might not work well for horizontal projects, in practice, they are often preferred precisely because of their ability to handle the variability inherent in such projects.