Letter of Intent Claim
ClaimTimetable agreed at scoping
Work unpaid beyond a letter of intent’s cap or expiry? We value it from your records and pursue payment.
Updated: . By Jack Butler-Kettle, Construction Claims Consultant.
Get a free report on your claim. About three minutes; no obligation.
The problem
You have worked beyond the letter of intent’s cap or expiry date without a signed subcontract, and payment or the agreed scope is now disputed. Your main contractor may be relying on the letter to limit what it owes you.
A signed subcontract covers this work? See Underpayment Claim or Final Account Claim.
The solution
We check urgent dates, establish what was agreed and value the work, allowing for payments received. You approve the claim before it goes in your name.
We negotiate and prepare adjudication figures if that route is available. Your solicitor confirms legal entitlement and the available route.
What you get
You receive an evidenced valuation using agreed rates or a supported alternative, followed by a claim and responses to your main contractor’s objections. The final record sets out the written settlement, decision or issues that remain unresolved.
Includes a Handover Pack: key dates and sources, next steps, likely responses, scope limits and any ready-to-send letters.
Fee: Each stage has a fixed fee agreed in writing after we see the records, before that stage starts.
Turnaround: the timetable is agreed in writing at scoping and then kept.
How it works
Claim stage: Event
You tell us what happened
Start with a free call; urgent deadlines come first. Send the records, then we confirm each stage’s fixed fee in writing.
What you get: A written scope, with a fixed fee for each stage and the timetable
- A
The paper that exists
The letter of intent, any unsigned subcontract, your quote, the instructions and orders, however incomplete, as dated PDFs. Add the emails about the cap, the expiry and the subcontract, forwarded as the original messages.
Where to find it: The commercial folder and the negotiation thread with your main contractor.
Why we need it: The valuation has to know exactly where the paper stops: what was covered, capped or agreed, and what was simply built.
How we will use it: It fixes the boundary the valuation works beyond, and what has to be reconciled inside it.
- B
The site records
Diaries, photos, the drawings built from, delivery tickets and signed sheets, as they are kept.
Where to find it: The site office files and the team's phones.
Why we need it: With no agreed rates to lean on for part of the work, the measure of what was done is the claim's foundation.
How we will use it: We measure the work from them, so the valuation starts from evidence rather than an invoice total.
- C
The cost records
Payroll, plant hire, material invoices and any sub-subcontract costs for the work, as native exports.
Where to find it: Your accounts system and purchase ledger.
Why we need it: Where no rate was agreed, the value of the work is built from what it actually cost, then checked against an independent basis.
How we will use it: They build the rates, and the cross-check that makes the valuation hard to dismiss.
- D
The payment history
Every application, invoice, payment, notice and credit on the job, in a native spreadsheet where possible.
Where to find it: Your accounts package and your QS's working files.
Why we need it: A claim that ignores what has already been paid gets its credibility, and its arithmetic, taken apart first.
How we will use it: The valuation is reconciled against it, so the claim is the unpaid balance, proven.
- E
Anything your main contractor has put forward
Its valuation, assessment or reply on the account, as issued, in native form where you have it.
Where to find it: Attached to the email or letter it came with.
Why we need it: A valuation that answers your main contractor's figures line by line forces a proper reply. A rival total does not.
How we will use it: It becomes the schedule our valuation answers, item by item, in the negotiation.
Copies are fine. Send what you have and we will tell you what's missing.
- A
Claim stages: Notice, Entitlement, Evidence, Quantum and Assembly
We work out what you are owed
You walk us through how the job ran. We fix where the agreed work ends, then measure and value everything past it and take off what you have been paid.
What you get: A written report of your claim, part by part, with the route we recommend
You approve the claim
Nothing goes to your main contractor until you have read it and said yes. You set your floor, the lowest figure you will take, and can cut the claim to its strongest parts.
Claim stage: Resolution
We send the claim and negotiate
The claim goes in your name, with the full working. We answer every point in the reply and negotiate. Whether to settle is always your decision.
What you get: The claim and valuation, sent in your name with the full working
We prepare for adjudication, if it comes to that
If talks fail and your solicitor confirms the route is open, you can take it to adjudication. We prepare the figures and evidence, and check any decision is paid.
What you get: The figures and evidence for the adjudication
We close out with the Handover Pack
Get a free report on your claim
Answer the questions below for a free PDF report by email. Allow about three minutes; choose “Not sure” where needed.
Your report explains where you stand, the next steps to take and the records to gather. It also sets out how we could help for a fixed fee, with no obligation.
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Prevent it next time
Put a routine in place to reduce the risk of this happening again. Letter of Intent Loss Prevention.