What counts as contemporaneous evidence on a construction job?
Contemporaneous evidence is any record made at the time something happened, such as a diary entry, a dated photo or an email sent that day.
Updated: . By Jack Butler-Kettle, Construction Claims Consultant.
The answer
On a construction job, that means site diaries, allocation sheets, daywork sheets, delivery tickets, dated photos and meeting minutes. It also means emails and messages sent as things happened. It usually counts for more than a statement written months later, because nobody knew then that a dispute was coming. When your main contractor makes a claim against you, these are the records an adjudicator will look for. A record is only as good as its date and its source. So date every entry, name who made it, and keep the original file, not a copy or a screenshot. Never go back and change a record: add a dated note instead. Records written up later can still help, but label them for what they are. How much weight a record carries is for your solicitor and the adjudicator. Keeping it is a job for your site team, every day.
Example
Illustrative example. The scenario and figures are invented.
The facts
A ceilings subcontractor's main contractor claims £36,000 from it. It says the subcontractor's gangs left level 2 unfinished for 3 weeks in March. The site manager remembers the area was not ready, but memory alone will not answer the claim.
What happens
- The daily allocation sheets show the gangs moved off level 2 on 4 March, with the reason recorded: the mechanical services were not signed off.
- An email sent that day to the main contractor's site manager says the same. Dated photos show open ceiling voids with services still being fitted.
- The subcontractor's answer cites the three records by date, not the site manager's memory.
The outcome
The main contractor withdraws £30,000 of the claim. It keeps £6,000 for 2 days when the area was ready and the gangs were elsewhere. The records made at the time decided it, not what anyone remembered.
To have the records that would answer a claim set up and kept by your team, see our Counterclaim Prevention service.