Our delay records are patchy. Will you still take on our claim?
Yes: you do not need a tidy file to start, so send the records as they stand, gaps and all.
Updated: . By Jack Butler-Kettle, Construction Claims Consultant.
The answer
The first stage is a stress test of each head of claim. The heads are prolongation, thickened site costs, disruption, acceleration, head office overhead and financing. Each head is rated on its notices and the records behind it, and we name the repair that would make it stronger. You then decide which heads go forward, and whether a weak one is repaired, held back or dropped. That happens before the valuation is built. Each stage has a fixed fee agreed in writing before it starts. After each stage, you decide whether the next one goes ahead. If a notice deadline falls this week, we prepare that notice for you to serve before anything else starts. When the claim closes, the Handover Pack prices what each missing notice and record cost you on this job.
Example
Illustrative example. The scenario and figures are invented.
The facts
A groundworks subcontractor believes delay cost it about £180,000. But its diary was kept for only half the job, and its allocation sheets stop in month three. It sends everything as it stands.
What happens
- The stress test rates the prolongation head strong, on payroll and hire invoices.
- It rates the disruption head weak, because the allocation sheets stop before the affected period.
- It rates the head office overhead unsupported, with nothing in the accounts behind it.
- The director takes the prolongation forward, holds the disruption head back while the missing sheets are searched for, and drops the overhead.
The outcome
The valuation is built on the prolongation alone. The weak heads are set aside by the director's decision, not found later by the main contractor's surveyor.
To have what your records can carry valued and claimed, see our Delay & Disruption Claim service.