What is a smash and grab adjudication?
It is an adjudication that claims the notified sum because your main contractor's notices were missing, late or invalid, without deciding what the work is really worth.
Updated: . By Jack Butler-Kettle, Construction Claims Consultant.
The answer
It is used where the notices have fixed the sum: typically your application, left standing because no valid Payment Notice or Pay Less Notice came back. Whether you win still depends on your subcontract, whether the statutory payment rules apply to it, your application, the notices, how they were sent and the adjudicator's jurisdiction. It does not decide the true value of the work. When a later argument about the true value can be run, and in what order, is a question for your solicitor. Your evidence should tie together the gross value, deductions, previous payments and any earlier decision.
Example
Illustrative example. The scenario and figures are invented.
The facts
You applied for £110,000 and found no notice from your main contractor within the notice window. You are thinking about adjudication, and the case has to be built from the records first.
What happens
- You keep the application and the proof of when it arrived.
- You search for any email or letter from your main contractor that might answer the application in substance.
- You check the subcontract terms and whether an adjudicator would have jurisdiction.
- You report whether a notice point is arguable, separately from the measured value of the work.
The outcome
The file shows whether a notice point is arguable, separately from what the £110,000 of work is worth. It does not predict an award or a recovery.
If you are weighing one up, Underpayment Claim prepares the notice position and the figures for it.