We have already had one claim made against us. Do we need Counterclaim Prevention as well?
Not always: look first at what gaps in your records cost you on the last claim, because those gaps are what Counterclaim Prevention closes.
Updated: . By Jack Butler-Kettle, Construction Claims Consultant.
The answer
If we answered that claim through Counterclaim Defence, the Handover Pack already sets this out. It shows what the claim was, what it came down to and what each gap in your records cost you on that job. It also names the Counterclaim Prevention routine that would have answered it sooner. Prevention starts with an exposure check: where your main contractor could bring the next claim against you, rated head by head on the records you hold today. It then sets up the records and written answers that would defend it, proves them on a live month and hands them to your team. The exposure check and set-up are a fixed fee, agreed in writing once we have read the subcontract and the correspondence so far. The monthly check after that is optional, at a fixed fee per month, and it pauses between projects rather than being cancelled. Whether to set it up is your decision.
Example
Illustrative example. The scenario and figures are invented.
The facts
A steel erection subcontractor has just had a £120,000 counterclaim for delay and defects answered and settled. It is starting two new jobs with the same main contractor.
What happens
- The Handover Pack from the Counterclaim Defence job is read first. It prices the two gaps that cost most: no dated record of the frame's condition at handover, and allegations left unanswered for 6 weeks.
- The director weighs those costs against the fixed fee for the exposure check and set-up, agreed in writing once the new subcontract and the correspondence have been read.
- The exposure check is run on the larger of the two jobs, where the main contractor has already written about progress. Dated handovers and a same-day route for answering allegations are set up there.
- The optional monthly check is kept for that job only.
The outcome
The larger job runs with the two routines the last claim showed were missing, and the director can see what each one is there to answer.
To have the gaps the last claim exposed closed before the next one, see our Counterclaim Prevention service.