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Answer a refusal on the ground it gives

When your main contractor says an event is not a compensation event, find the ground it relies on and check your subcontract allows it. Then answer that ground with the records that meet it, in writing, through the contract's communication system. Put any period for raising a disagreement in the diary. A one-line refusal nobody answers tends to become the position.

Updated: . By Jack Butler-Kettle, Construction Claims Consultant.

Why it matters

A refusal usually arrives as one line, and one line is easy to file and forget. The final account then starts from it. But the contract only lets your main contractor refuse on the grounds it lists, and each ground is met by different evidence. Fault is met by the Accepted Programme and the site records. No effect is met by the cost records. Not listed is met by the clause wording and your amendments. An answer aimed at the ground given, with those records attached, has to be dealt with. A general complaint that the refusal is unfair gives it nothing to answer.

How to do it

  1. Log the reply the day it arrives, with its date and the ground it gives in its own words.
  2. Read that ground against the grounds your subcontract allows. Say so plainly where the reply gives no ground, or one the subcontract does not list.
  3. Gather the records that meet the ground given. Use the Accepted Programme and the diary for fault, and the cost records for no effect. Use the clause and amendment schedule for an event said not to be listed.
  4. Read your subcontract's dispute clause for any period within which a disagreement must be raised, and put it in the diary from the date of the reply.
  5. Send the answer through the contract's communication system, asking for the event to be accepted and a quotation instructed, and put the reply period in the diary.

Example

Illustrative example. The scenario and figures are invented.

The facts

A scaffolding subcontractor on an NEC subcontract notifies that the east elevation was handed over 9 days after the Accepted Programme date. The one-line reply says it is not a compensation event, because the late handover had no effect on cost: the gang could work elsewhere.

What happens

  1. The reply is logged that day, and the ground noted: no effect on cost, which the subcontract allows.
  2. The allocation sheets show the four-man gang standing for 3 days before work was found for it on the west elevation. The hire records show the hoist idle on site for all 9 days.
  3. The dispute clause's period for raising a disagreement goes in the diary from the date of the reply.
  4. The answer goes back within the week through the communication system, with the allocation sheets and hire records attached. It asks for the event to be accepted and a quotation instructed.
  5. The main contractor accepts the event and instructs a quotation, which goes in at £4,200 from the same records.

The outcome

The event is implemented at £4,200 plus the Fee. The one-line refusal, filed and left, would have carried the event into the final account at nil.

To have this done for you, see our Compensation Event Claim service.