Close gaps while the facts are warm
A gap found at the monthly check can still be filled honestly, with dated statements from the people who were there. Found at the final account, with the foreman gone and the phone wiped, it is simply lost.
Updated: . By Jack Butler-Kettle, Construction Claims Consultant.
To find those gaps while they can still be filled, see how a monthly check finds the gaps while the month can still be rebuilt.
Why it matters
A gap in the record is two problems, and the second grows every week. The first is the missing fortnight itself. The second is that the people who could fill it are moving on. The foreman goes to another job, the phone with the photos gets replaced, and the supplier archives its delivery notes. A statement written a month later by someone who was there, dated and open about being written later, still has value. The same statement written at the final account is a guess with a signature on it.
How to do it
- List what is missing when the monthly check finds a gap, and who was on site at the time.
- Sit each of them down within the week and take a dated statement of what they remember, in their own words.
- Head every statement with the date it was written and a line saying it was made from memory after the event.
- Gather whatever else survives from the period, such as phone photos, delivery notes and messages, and file it with the statements.
Example
Illustrative example. The scenario and figures are invented.
The facts
A monthly check on an £800,000 job finds the diary missing for 2 weeks. In those weeks a gang was stood down, waiting for a steel delivery that was the main contractor's responsibility. The subcontractor thinks the standing time cost about £11,000.
What happens
- The commercial manager interviews the foreman and both supervisors that week and takes a dated statement from each.
- The statements agree on the dates, the gang size and the reason. Each says it was written from memory, 3 weeks after the event.
- The allocation sheets for the 2 weeks show the same gang with no output. The site WhatsApp group has photos of the empty steel laydown area.
The outcome
The £11,000 standing time claim is backed by three matching statements and two independent records, and settles at £9,500. Left until the final account, with the foreman gone, there would have been nothing.
To have this set up for you, see our Delay & Disruption Loss Prevention service.