We've been put off site and our materials and plant are still there
The termination letter told us to leave that day, and everything we had delivered, stored and hired is still behind the hoarding.
Updated: . By Jack Butler-Kettle, Construction Claims Consultant.
What's happening?
Most termination letters tell you to leave site at once. The materials, part-finished work and plant you leave behind are what your side of the account will be built on. Many subcontracts let your main contractor use what is on site to finish the work, so taking it all back may not be the point. Proving what was there is.
Within days the completion contractor, the firm brought in to finish your work, starts on site. It builds over some of your work, moves the rest and makes its own records, which describe the site as it found it. Your main contractor then values your work from its surveyor's assessment after you left. Stored materials nobody listed can be valued at nothing.
What your subcontract says about removing plant and materials, and whether the termination was valid, are questions for your solicitor. The record of the day is yours to make, and it can only be made now.
The solution
Ask in writing, the same day, for access to record the works, and keep the request if it is refused. Photograph every area with the date and location. Mark up the drawings to show what was complete, part complete and not started. List the materials on and off site with their delivery tickets, and the plant left behind.
Where the termination is recent, Termination Claim starts with that record, before the completion contractor changes the site. It then measures and evidences your work line by line and builds the account your subcontract's termination clauses require. Termination Prevention sets up the records your team keeps as a job runs, so the file is ready if it ever happens again.
Example
Illustrative example. The scenario and figures are invented.
The facts
An electrical subcontractor's subcontract is terminated on a Tuesday, with a letter telling it to leave site that afternoon. Cable drums, containment and two hired scissor lifts are left in the compound. The completion contractor is due the following Monday.
What happens
- That evening, the subcontractor writes asking for access the next morning to record the works. The main contractor agrees to 2 hours, with its site manager present.
- Two supervisors photograph every floor and riser with the date and location, marking up the drawings as they go.
- The cable drums and containment, £22,000 of material, are listed against their delivery tickets. The scissor lifts are listed against the hire agreement.
- The record is filed with the termination letter the same day, and all later work is done on copies.
The outcome
The main contractor's account arrives 5 months later and values the stored material at £6,000. The dated photographs and delivery tickets put the other £16,000 back into the account.