Our letter of intent expired months ago and we kept working. Can you still value the work?
Yes: Letter of Intent Claim measures and values, on evidence, work done after a letter expired, beyond its cap or with no signed contract.
Updated: . By Jack Butler-Kettle, Construction Claims Consultant.
The answer
First we fix the point where the priced work ends and the unpriced work begins, at a dated document. You confirm it in writing before we value anything. The claim splits into parts: the work inside the letter, the work beyond the cap, the work after expiry and the extras on changed drawings. We rate each part strong, repairable or weak on its evidence, and name the gap. We measure the work from your site records. We price it at agreed or quoted rates where they reach, and from your actual costs where they do not. We check it on a second basis and reconcile it against every payment. The valuation goes to your main contractor in your name, with the full build-up. We run the negotiation, or the adjudication where the letter is a construction contract and a referral is justified. Send the paper that exists, your site records, your cost records, the payment history and anything your main contractor has put forward. Which legal basis gives you the right to be paid is your solicitor's question. What the work is worth is ours.
Example
Illustrative example. The scenario and figures are invented.
The facts
A roofing subcontractor's letter of intent, capped at £90,000, expired in April. It is now October and the subcontract is still unsigned. £150,000 has been paid, and the main contractor says only the cap was ever authorised.
What happens
- We fix the boundary at the expiry date in the letter, and the subcontractor confirms it in writing.
- We rate the work after the expiry as repairable. The diaries are complete, but the delivery tickets for 2 months are missing, and we name that gap.
- We measure the work from the diaries and the drawings it was built from. We price it at the quote's rates where they reach and from cost where they do not: £235,000.
- We reconcile the valuation against the £150,000 paid. It goes to the main contractor in the subcontractor's name, with the full build-up.
The claim in figures
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Cap in the letter | £90,000 |
| Value of the work | £235,000 |
| Paid | £150,000 |
| Balance claimed | £85,000 |
The outcome
The account is argued on a measured, reconciled figure, not on the cap. The question of what the arrangement was in law goes to the solicitor, with the valuation beside it.
To have the work beyond the paper measured, valued and pursued, see our Letter of Intent Claim service.