What records do I need for a loss and expense claim?
You need records of the event, the work it affected, the resources used and the cost, with each linked to the others.
Updated: . By Jack Butler-Kettle, Construction Claims Consultant.
The answer
Build every cost line from the same set of facts. Record the event and its date, and the location or activity it affected. Record the named person or plant and the period involved. Then add the source document, how the cost was split, the amount and any credit or overlap with other heads. If an allocation sheet is missing, compare payroll, diaries, access records, instructions and any other evidence you hold. Label anything pieced together later, with who prepared it and on what basis. Keep any cost you cannot yet tie to the event separate from the cost you can support. One missing record does not automatically decide the whole claim.
Example
Illustrative example. The scenario and figures are invented.
The facts
A fit-out subcontractor puts eleven weeks down to phased handovers that did not happen as planned. Its file holds a week-one notice, revised access dates and daily allocation sheets. The sheets separate two floors it could reach from three it could not.
What happens
- The head is set against its dated sources: the week-one notice, the revised access dates and the allocation sheets.
- The schedule compares site running costs and trade output with the chosen baseline.
- A specialist in time and programme confirms any programme input the head needs.
The outcome
The dated sources show what the head can carry and where it falls short. They do not settle what is owed, what is recovered or settled, or whether any particular specialist must be appointed.
Building the prolongation cost shows one cost head with its credits and overlap reconciled. Delay & Disruption Claim brings the explanation, figures and evidence together where you want the claim prepared for you; Delay & Disruption Loss Prevention sets up the record routine while the project is still running.