Termination Claim
ClaimTimetable agreed at scoping
Subcontract terminated? We value your work, test the cost to complete and establish the account balance.
Updated: . By Jack Butler-Kettle, Construction Claims Consultant.
Get a free report on your claim. About three minutes; no obligation.
The problem
You have left site and another firm is finishing the work, while your main contractor claims completion costs or withholds payment. Your materials or plant may also remain on site.
Still on the job under a warning? See Termination Prevention. Main contractor insolvent? See Insolvency Claim.
The solution
We prioritise records of the work, materials and plant left on site. Then we value your work and test completion costs against the original scope, including your own losses where applicable.
Your solicitor addresses termination validity. You approve the account; we negotiate or prepare figures for adjudication run by your representative.
What you get
You receive a record of the work and assets left on site, together with an evidenced account testing both the value of your work and the completion costs claimed against you. The work closes with a written settlement, decision or file ready for the next step.
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 after we see the evidence. Each later stage has its own fixed fee agreed first.
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. We prioritise urgent site records and agree the fee before you proceed.
What you get: A written scope, fixed fee and timetable
- A
The signed subcontract
A complete PDF with all schedules and amendments.
Where to find it: The commercial folder or the order email.
Why we need it: The termination clauses themselves say what the account must contain, and every line of it is built against them.
How we will use it: It sets the account's required structure: what is valued, what is deducted and how the balance is struck.
- B
The termination documents
The default notices and the termination letter, as dated PDFs or scans, with any record of how and when they arrived.
Where to find it: The formal correspondence file; they usually come by recorded post and email together.
Why we need it: The account runs from the termination date, so the documents that fix that date anchor every figure in it.
How we will use it: They fix the date the works are valued to and the provision the account is built under.
- C
Payment history
The complete run of applications, notices and payments to the termination date, not a partial or summarised history.
Where to find it: Your QS's working files hold the applications and notices, and your accounts package holds the payments.
Why we need it: The account cannot strike a balance without the paid side of it. This fixes exactly what has and has not been paid to the termination date.
How we will use it: We set the value of the work against what has actually been paid, so the account strikes an honest balance.
- D
The records of work done
Diaries, photos, valuations, measures, marked-up drawings and delivery records as they are kept, not retyped, and anything recorded on the termination day.
Where to find it: The site office files, the team's phones and your QS's working folders.
Why we need it: The value of your work at the termination date only holds up if it traces to what the records show was there.
How we will use it: We measure and evidence the value of your work from them, line by line.
- E
The plant and materials left behind
A list of the plant, equipment and materials left on site or stored off site, with the delivery tickets, invoices and hire agreements for each.
Where to find it: Your buyer's and plant manager's files, your hire firms' statements and the site's delivery records.
Why we need it: Materials and plant left behind belong in the account, and hired plant keeps costing you until it is returned. Each item only counts if it traces to a ticket, an invoice or a hire record.
How we will use it: Each item goes on the record of the termination day. We set out its return or its value in the account, and log hire charges from the termination date.
- F
The completion cost information
The completion contract or quotes, and the cost records of finishing the works, as original spreadsheets where they exist.
Where to find it: They usually arrive attached to your main contractor's account or claim; if not, we ask for them.
Why we need it: The cost to complete is where accounts grow. Upgrades beyond your specification, extra scope and other packages' work creep into the number unless your original scope is put beside it.
How we will use it: We test the cost to complete against your original scope and strip out what does not belong.
- G
The account or claim received
If your main contractor has already put figures forward, its account as issued, in its original Excel file where you have it.
Where to find it: Attached to the demand or the letter it came with.
Why we need it: An account that answers your main contractor's figures line by line forces it to engage. A rival total does not.
How we will use it: It becomes the schedule our account answers, item by item.
- H
Your tender build-up and cost records
Your priced tender or build-up for the package and your cost records to date, as they are kept. Needed where your own loss is claimed.
Where to find it: Your estimator's tender file and your accounts package.
Why we need it: Where the termination was wrongful, or you ended the subcontract yourself, your loss includes the profit you would have made, less what you saved. Only your own build-up shows it.
How we will use it: We build your own loss from them as a separate part of the claim, ready whichever way your solicitor answers the question of validity.
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 who owes what
We read your subcontract, record what was on site, value your work and test their cost to complete. Whether the termination was valid goes to your solicitor.
What you get: A written report on who owes what, and the route we recommend
You approve the account
Nothing goes to your main contractor until you have read it and approved it in writing. You can change it or drop items first.
Claim stage: Resolution
We send the account and negotiate
The account goes in your name. You set the lowest figure you will accept, then we negotiate on the numbers and put anything agreed in writing.
What you get: A written record of what is agreed
We prepare for adjudication, if it comes to that
Whether to settle is always your choice. If you go on, we prepare the figures and evidence for adjudication, and you or your solicitor run it.
What you get: The valuation, evidence and schedules 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. Termination Prevention.