We started on a quote and a few emails, and now we disagree on what was agreed
The job is running on a quote, a few emails and goodwill, and something has now gone wrong.
Updated: . By Jack Butler-Kettle, Construction Claims Consultant.
What's happening?
Plenty of jobs start with no signed contract. The work runs on a quote, an order, some emails, a phone call and the payments that follow. Everyone gets on with it while it goes well. When it goes wrong, each side remembers a different scope, price, start date or payment route.
Whether those documents made a contract, whose terms it includes and whether the statutory payment rules apply are legal questions. One email will not answer them, however confident either side sounds.
Left alone, the argument runs on memory. Your main contractor pays the figure it says was agreed, and you chase the rest with nothing in order to prove your version. Even the part that is owed on either version can sit unpaid while the argument goes on.
The solution
Build a dated chronology from the originals: the quote, the instruction to start, the work, the invoices and the payments. Mark each entry as agreed, one side's version or in dispute, and attach each disputed term to the message it came from. Then value the work on each side's version. The sum unpaid whichever side is right can be claimed now, and the difference argued separately.
Our Letter of Intent Claim service builds that chronology, values the work on evidence and pursues the unpaid balance in your name. Whether a contract was formed, on whose terms, and whether the statutory payment rules apply are questions for your solicitor. At the close, the Handover Pack sets out the Letter of Intent Loss Prevention set-up that keeps the next job inside written terms.
Example
Illustrative example. The scenario and figures are invented.
The facts
A joinery subcontractor quotes £86,000 by email to fit out a restaurant. The main contractor tells it by phone to start, and it works for 4 months. When the seventh invoice goes unpaid, the main contractor says the price was £74,000. It points to an order it sent after work began, which nobody signed.
What happens
- The subcontractor puts the originals in date order: the quote, its account of the phone call, the first day on site and the unsigned order. The list also holds a revised drawing adding a staircase, and the seven invoices.
- It enters the four payments, totalling £52,000, and marks each entry as agreed, one side's version or in dispute.
- The price is in dispute, with the quote on one side and the order on the other. The subcontractor attaches each to its source message.
- It asks its solicitor whether the exchange formed a contract on the quote or the order, and whether the statutory payment rules apply.
- It values the work on both readings. The work is done and £52,000 has been paid, so £22,000 is unpaid even on the main contractor's own £74,000.
The account on either reading
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Subcontractor's quote | £86,000 |
| Main contractor's unsigned order | £74,000 |
| Paid | £52,000 |
| Unpaid on the main contractor's own figure | £22,000 |
| Difference between quote and order | £12,000 |
| Staircase added by revised drawing | £6,000 |
The outcome
The main contractor pays the £22,000 within the month. The £12,000 difference and the £6,000 staircase wait for the solicitor's view. The chronology shows which entries are fact and which are one side's version.