What if my variations are only disputed at the final account?
Rebuild each disputed variation from its instruction, valuation, payments and any agreements, item by item, before you decide how to respond.
Updated: . By Jack Butler-Kettle, Construction Claims Consultant.
The answer
For each one, set out the scope and drawing revision, who authorised it and any notices. Add the measurements, the quote or assessment, the applications, certificates and payments, and what is still open. Then check what your subcontract and the earlier documents say about certificates, agreements and reserved rights. Check too whether earlier figures are final or can still be corrected. An earlier assessment is evidence to test. It is not always a bar to reviewing the item again. Keep the commercial reconciliation separate from any dispute procedure, and get the timeline in order before choosing a route. If finality or the right route is in doubt, that is a question for your solicitor.
Example
Illustrative example. The scenario and figures are invented.
The facts
A plumbing subcontractor reaches final account with twelve disputed changes, four of which carry earlier assessments. The changes are being disputed for the first time at the final account.
What happens
- Each item goes into its own evidence file.
- Applications, assessments, certificates and payments are reconciled against each item.
- The four earlier assessments are marked for review, not treated as final.
- The parties can then see what is agreed, what is unsupported and what is genuinely disputed.
The outcome
Whether adjudication or another route follows, and when, depends on the subcontract and advice. The reconciliation predicts neither the outcome nor what is recovered.
To have each disputed variation rebuilt from its evidence and pressed to agreement, see our Variation Claim service.