The records exist, but I can't find them
Nothing foldered, nothing labelled, and a delay claim that has to be rebuilt out of an inbox.
Updated: . By Jack Butler-Kettle, Construction Claims Consultant.
What's happening?
The records exist, but they are spread across inboxes, shared drives, personal folders, phones and boxes of day files. Nobody knows where each one is, which version is current or how they link. Every new question from your main contractor starts with a search before anyone can look at the material.
A scattered file may still hold useful evidence. But whether you can get at it, where it came from and whether it is complete should be tested, not assumed from a search result. Leave it, and answers stay slow and evidence you do have may never reach the claim.
Organising the file is about finding things. It makes the file easy to use. It does not decide what each document is worth to the claim.
The solution
Keep the original set exactly as it is. Build an index and one organised set of working copies. Record each item's version, any duplicates and where it came from, and mark the gaps and anything whose origin is uncertain. Keep source records apart from people's conclusions about them.
Delay & Disruption Claim does this in its first stage. Each head of the claim then traces to a document you can find in minutes. The index supports the claim. On its own it does not prove the file is complete, that you are owed the money, or what any document is worth.
Example
Illustrative example. The scenario and figures are invented.
The facts
A subcontractor has put in a £160,000 delay and disruption claim. The main contractor wants the supporting evidence within 3 weeks. The records are in two inboxes, a shared drive, the site manager's laptop and four boxes of day files. Nobody knows which version of the programme was issued.
What happens
- An index is built while the originals stay where they are, unchanged.
- Working copies go into one searchable set. Each item is entered with its source location, its version, any duplicates, and whether it is a source record or someone's conclusion about one. Gaps and uncertain origins are recorded.
- In 2 weeks, 1,900 items are indexed. The search turns up three versions of the programme, and only one carries an issue stamp.
- Late drawing issues and access emails, 22 in all, are found and linked to the claim items that rely on them.
- Four events the claim relies on cannot be found anywhere. They are recorded as gaps in the file, not as events that never happened.
- Finding things is then tested from the working file, using the claim's own references.
The outcome
The supporting evidence is built from that file. It supports £110,000 of the £160,000, with the four gaps stated. The index says where everything is and what it is. What each document is worth to the claim is decided separately.