Our main contractor went into administration this morning. How soon can you start?
The same day, if you instruct us by early afternoon.
Updated: . By Jack Butler-Kettle, Construction Claims Consultant.
The answer
Send what you have, in whatever state it is in, because nothing waits for a tidy pack. Forward whatever told you, as it arrived: emails, texts, notes of calls or site rumours. Add the subcontract, the account as it stands today and dated photographs of what is yours on site. Include who is due on site tomorrow morning and anything the administrator has sent. The first days then run to a checklist. We check the appointment on the public record and start a log with the time of every call. We take the decision on whether your people work tomorrow with you, on your subcontract's terms, and with your solicitor where the law limits those terms. It is recorded before the next shift. We list and photograph what is yours on site. The legal questions go to your solicitor the same day: who owns the materials, termination and the process itself. The first days' response is a fixed fee agreed when you instruct us. The account and the claim that follow have their own fixed fee, agreed in writing once we have reviewed the evidence.
Example
Illustrative example. The scenario and figures are invented.
The facts
A joinery subcontractor hears at 8am that its main contractor has entered administration. It is owed £57,000, has £11,000 of doorsets in the compound, and has a gang booked on site the next morning.
What happens
- By 11am the site manager's texts, the subcontract and the last three applications have been forwarded, and Insolvency Claim is instructed.
- The appointment is confirmed on the public record before noon, and the log is opened with the time of every call.
- That afternoon the gang is stood down until the administrator says in writing whether it wants the work continued, and who will pay. The decision is recorded against the subcontract clause that allows it and the solicitor's advice.
- The doorsets are photographed, matched to their delivery tickets and notified to the administrator before the end of the day.
- Who owns the doorsets, and the termination question, go to the subcontractor's solicitor the same day.
The outcome
By the end of the first day, the appointment is confirmed and the decision on labour is recorded. The doorsets are notified to the administrator and the legal questions are with the solicitor. The account can now be built from a file that already holds the facts.
To have the first days after your main contractor fails run to a checklist from the day you call, see our Insolvency Claim service.