Test the evidence, not the grievance
Being wronged and being able to prove it are different things, and whoever decides your dispute only awards money for the second. Check each head against the documents you hold, and repair or concede any head they cannot carry before it goes near a referral.
Updated: . By Jack Butler-Kettle, Construction Claims Consultant.
Why it matters
An adjudicator does not award money for what happened. They award it for what the documents in front of them show happened. The subcontractor who was genuinely wronged often loses because the wrong was never recorded in a form a stranger can follow. The instruction was verbal, the diary says only that it rained, and the cost was never tied to the event. Each head has a few things it must prove. The honest question before any referral is whether your documents prove them. If they do not, repair the head while the evidence can still be gathered, or concede it before it costs money to lose.
How to do it
- List the three or four facts a stranger would need to see proved to award each head.
- Match each fact to the document you hold that proves it, or write none.
- Search once more wherever the answer is none, and ask the site team what was recorded at the time.
- Repair what can be repaired, with dated statements from the people who were there and the records that remain.
- Concede or park any head that still cannot be carried, and record the decision.
Example
Illustrative example. The scenario and figures are invented.
The facts
A subcontractor intends to refer four heads worth £160,000 on a final account. Before instructing anyone, the surveyor tests each head against the documents in the job file.
What happens
- Variations, £70,000: every instruction is in writing and the measure sheets exist; carried.
- Disputed contra-charges, £25,000: no Pay Less Notice was served for the deductions and the payment records show it; carried.
- Loss and expense, £50,000: the event is documented, but the cost was never tied to it in the ledger. It is repaired from the payroll and plant records for the period, which support £35,000.
- Acceleration, £15,000: nothing in writing beyond a phone call nobody noted; conceded before referral.
Heads tested
| Head | Sum | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Variations | £70,000 | Carried |
| Contra-charges | £25,000 | Carried |
| Loss and expense | £35,000 | Repaired |
| Acceleration | £0 | Conceded |
| Referred total | £130,000 |
The outcome
The referral goes in at £130,000 on three evidenced heads, and the decision awards £118,000. Had the unrecorded head gone in, it would have been the one the other side led with.
To have this done for you, see our Final Account Claim service.