Termination Prevention
PreventionOptional monthly check5 working days
Warning or default notice received? Give your team a clear response routine and the records to support it.
Updated: . By Jack Butler-Kettle, Construction Claims Consultant.
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The problem
Your main contractor is complaining about progress or defective work, or a warning or default notice has arrived. Notices may be reaching the office late, while pressure on site leaves your team considering whether to walk off the job.
Subcontract already ended? See Termination Claim.
The solution
A running default notice comes first, under a separately agreed fixed fee. We then match the subcontract’s termination rules and complaints to the records needed, and test a response routine over a live month.
Your solicitor advises on notice validity and stopping work. We do not assess delay causation.
What you get
You receive a deadline diary with clear responsibility for receiving and answering notices, supported by reply templates and an evidence checklist. We test the written routine and organise the file for use if termination follows.
Includes a Handover Pack: key dates and sources, next steps, likely responses, scope limits and any ready-to-send letters.
Fee: Fixed fee agreed in writing before work starts. Optional monthly checks have a fixed fee agreed first. Pause between jobs or stop at month-end.
Need it faster? Ask on the first call: an express turnaround is quoted in writing where the diary allows it.
How it works
You tell us about the job
Start with a free call. A running default notice takes priority, with its urgent response fee agreed first.
What you get: A written scope, timetable and fixed fee
- A
The full subcontract
A complete PDF or scan, with every schedule, amendment and any main contract terms it brings in, nothing removed.
Where to find it: Usually attached to the order email from the main contractor's commercial team, or in their procurement portal under the project.
Why we need it: The grounds for termination, the notices, how they must be served and the account that follows are all in the subcontract. Amendments often change them.
How we will use it: We read its termination and default clauses on both sides, and build the notice routine and working rules on them.
- B
The correspondence so far
Complaints about progress or quality, directions to remove or redo work, warnings and any notice already received, forwarded as the original emails and letters.
Where to find it: The project inbox, the site cabin's post and the commercial manager's sent items.
Why we need it: A default case is built from paper that has already been sent. A notice already running has to be answered before anything else.
How we will use it: We map where a default case could come from, answer anything live first, and set the records that would answer the rest.
- C
The programme as issued and your resource records
The programme the main contractor issued, with its revisions, and your labour returns or allocation sheets as they are kept.
Where to find it: The planner's or site manager's files, and the site's daily returns.
Why we need it: The commonest complaint before a termination is slow progress, and it is answered with records of resources and access, not with opinion.
How we will use it: They set the records your team keeps under the routine; we do not analyse the programme or assess who caused any delay.
- D
Your payment position
The recent applications, any Payment Notices and Pay Less Notices received, and what has been paid, as a spreadsheet or a statement.
Where to find it: Your QS's working files and your accounts package.
Why we need it: Unpaid money is what tempts a walk-off, and a walk-off without the proper notice is one of the easiest defaults to prove.
How we will use it: We check whether a suspension or termination right could arise and set the notice route your team uses instead of leaving site.
- E
Where notices arrive
The addresses and people the subcontract names for notices, and who actually opens the post and email on site and in the office.
Where to find it: The subcontract's notices clause, and a short note from you on how post and email are handled.
Why we need it: A default notice runs from when it is received, not from when someone reads it. So the route from the cabin to the commercial team decides how many days you have.
How we will use it: It sets who receives a notice, how fast it reaches the commercial team and who replies, with a named deputy.
Copies are fine. Send what you have and we will tell you what's missing.
- A
We find where the risk is
We read what lets your main contractor end your subcontract. Then we match every complaint so far to the record that would answer it.
What you get: A map of every complaint so far, each with the record that answers it
We build the routine and train your team
We set out who receives a notice and who replies, with reply templates, a diary of deadlines and the records to keep. Then we walk your team through it.
What you get: Your notice route, reply templates, diary of deadlines and records list
We test it on a live month and hand it over
Your team runs the routine for a month. We check every notice and reply, put right anything missed, and hand you the routine in writing.
What you get: The written routine, ready for your team to run
We keep checking each month, if you want
Your team runs it from here. If you choose, we check each month's letters and records for signs of trouble, at a fixed monthly fee. You can stop at the end of any month.
What you get: A short written note each month on any signs of trouble
We leave you with a routine your team runs
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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Already dealing with it? Termination Claim.