Source every rate on the page
A rate with its source written beside it is hard to attack; a bare rate can be struck out in one line. Put the source next to the figure, not in an appendix nobody opens.
Updated: . By Jack Butler-Kettle, Construction Claims Consultant.
Why it matters
Your main contractor's surveyor reads your claim looking for a line they can strike without effort. A rate with no source is that line. It takes them one sentence to say not accepted, and you a week to find the source they could have read on the page. Every rate near it is then read with the same suspicion. Rates are also where claims get quietly inflated, so one bare rate suggests the rest were picked, not worked out. A source beside the figure turns this round: now they have to explain why the schedule, the invoice or the published data is wrong.
How to do it
- Add a source column to every rate schedule and build-up, and fill it in as each rate goes in, not afterwards.
- Name the source exactly: the subcontract schedule item, the invoice number and date, the published data and its edition, or the payroll period.
- Show the build-up on the same sheet for any rate you have built up, with each part sourced in turn.
- Check the column for blanks before the claim goes out, and either source each rate or mark it as an estimate.
Example
Illustrative example. The scenario and figures are invented.
The facts
A subcontractor's disruption claim comes to £210,000, most of it labour. The first version prices all labour at a single hourly rate, with nothing beside it. The main contractor's surveyor rejects the rate in her first paragraph, and the rest of the claim is not read.
What happens
- The subcontractor's surveyor rebuilds the labour rate from the payroll for the disruption period. Basic pay, overtime premium, employer costs and supervision each come from a named record.
- Plant rates are tied to the hire invoices by number. The one item with no invoice is marked as an estimate, at a lower figure.
- The claim goes back in with the source shown beside every rate.
Labour rate build-up for one hour
| Component | An hour |
|---|---|
| Basic pay, from payroll | £19.50 |
| Overtime premium and allowances | £3.20 |
| Employer costs | £4.30 |
| Supervision share | £2.00 |
| Hourly rate | £29.00 |
The outcome
The response to the new claim argues about hours, not rates, and hours are an argument the records can win. The claim settles at £175,000 instead of being cut across the board.
To have this done for you, see our Delay & Disruption Claim service.