Will you tell us which of our refused compensation events are not worth pressing?
Yes: each event is rated strong, arguable or weak on its evidence, and the weak ones are named plainly rather than carried in the total.
Updated: . By Jack Butler-Kettle, Construction Claims Consultant.
The answer
The rating looks at the clause the event falls under, the awareness and notification dates and their evidence, the quotation and every reply from your main contractor. Any quotation, reply or notification period still running goes in the diary with its source, and is dealt with first. That way no event is lost while the rest of the file is read. With the ratings in front of you, you choose which events go forward. Those are rebuilt from the Schedule of Cost Components and the records. The revised quotation, or a reasoned answer to your main contractor's own assessment, goes in your name. Whether a late notification has lost you the change to your price and dates is a legal question for your solicitor. We set out the dates and the wording for them. No settlement or outcome is guaranteed.
Example
Illustrative example. The scenario and figures are invented.
The facts
A groundworks subcontractor has eleven compensation events that have been refused, assessed low or left unanswered. It wants to know which are worth pressing before spending money on any of them.
What happens
- One event has a reply period closing that week. It goes in the diary with its source and is dealt with first.
- The other ten are rated on the clause each falls under, the awareness and notification dates, the quotation and the replies: four strong, four arguable and two weak.
- The two weak events were notified months after awareness, under a subcontract with a shortened period. Their dates and the amendment wording go to the subcontractor's solicitor.
- The subcontractor chooses to press the eight strong and arguable events, and each is rebuilt from the Schedule of Cost Components and the records.
The outcome
The two weak events are named in the report rather than carried in the total, and the eight pressed go in on evidence the subcontractor has seen rated.
To have your refused events rated, rebuilt and pressed, see our Compensation Event Claim service.