We help you understand your position, organise the evidence and decide how to move forward. Most matters settle commercially, and the ones that do not are won on preparation.
By the time a payment is late or a variation is refused, the commercial answer usually already exists somewhere in the contract, the correspondence and the records. The difficulty is finding it, valuing it and presenting it in a way the other side has to engage with.
This service principally supports contractors and subcontractors. The same work is available to developers, private clients and other construction clients, subject to conflicts and the appointment we agree.
Take one of these on its own or combine them. A contract review and a single claim are both perfectly normal instructions.
Understanding what you are signing up to, before it becomes a problem. We read the contract against how the job will actually be built and paid.
Getting paid what the contract entitles you to, whether that is a stalled application, a disputed variation or a final account that has gone quiet.
Building the claim properly: what happened, what the contract says about it, and what it is actually worth in time and money.
Closing the matter out rather than escalating it. Most disputes are settled commercially, and a well-prepared position is what makes that possible.
Working to the short timetable adjudication imposes, preparing either the referral or the response, with the evidence and quantification behind it.
An independent view of value and entitlement, for directors, funders or anyone who needs to know the real position before committing to a course of action. Available as commercial advice, or as expert witness input within our confirmed area of competence.
Standard forms are rarely used unamended. The amendments are where the commercial risk usually sits, and they are easiest to deal with before the contract is executed.
Where a document is intended to be executed as a deed, we work with your solicitor to settle it.
Payment disputes are often less about the money in principle and more about the way the entitlement has been presented, valued and notified.
A claim stands or falls on cause and effect. We reconstruct what happened from the records, tie it to the contractual entitlement and quantify the consequence.
Where a matter calls for formal programming or delay analysis beyond our own competence, we will say so and work with a specialist rather than stretch the point.
Formal process costs money and time, and it damages relationships you may want to keep. A properly evidenced position is usually what gets a matter closed without one.
Adjudication moves quickly, and a response is often needed in days. The work is largely commercial: the entitlement, the records and the numbers, assembled into something an adjudicator can follow.
Adjudication is not a court process, and a party may be assisted or represented by advisers of its choice. Where a decision needs enforcing through the courts, that is work for a solicitor and we will hand over cleanly.
Sometimes the useful thing is not advocacy but an honest assessment: what is this actually worth, and how strong is the position really? This is available either as commercial advice for your own decision-making, or as formal expert witness input within our confirmed area of competence.
Independent commercial assessment is for your own decision-making and does not carry legal advice privilege. A formal expert witness appointment is a separate, more formal role: an expert's overriding duty is to the court or tribunal, not to the party instructing them, and that duty is confirmed with you before any such appointment begins. We accept expert instructions only within construction cost and quantum, our confirmed area of competence, and only once we have checked our professional indemnity cover extends to it.
If something is already running against you, tell us that at the start. It changes the order everything else happens in.
What has happened, what you need, and any deadline already running
Confirming we can act, and agreeing what we are being asked to do
Reading the contract, correspondence, notices and supporting records
The position as we find it, and the realistic routes forward
The scope we have agreed, delivered to the timetable it needs
We are quantity surveyors and commercial managers, not solicitors, and we are straightforward about where that line sits. We prepare and present the commercial case: the entitlement, the records, the valuation and the negotiation. Some activities in England and Wales are reserved to authorised professionals, including conducting court proceedings and advocacy in court, and we will tell you plainly when a matter needs a solicitor.
Much of this work benefits from having sat on both sides. We have prepared and defended claims contractor-side, and assessed them client-side, which tends to produce a realistic view of what will actually be conceded and what will be fought.
Yes. A single claim, one contract review or one contra-charge assessment is a perfectly normal instruction. There is no requirement to take a wider appointment, and plenty of this work is one matter, handled once.
Yes, and it is the cheapest point at which to deal with a problem. We will tell you which amendments carry real commercial risk, what the payment and notice obligations commit you to, and which points are worth negotiating.
Yes. We prepare referrals and responses, assemble the evidence and records, and quantify the sums in issue. Adjudication is not a court process, and a party may be assisted or represented by advisers of its choice. Where a decision then needs enforcing through the courts, that is work for a solicitor.
Yes, on construction cost and quantum, which is our confirmed area of competence, subject to a conflict check. An expert witness owes their overriding duty to the court or tribunal, not to the party who instructs them, and we are straightforward about that before accepting an appointment. We do not act as an adjudicator: that is a separate, neutral role we do not offer.
Often that is the best arrangement. Your solicitor deals with the legal strategy and anything reserved to them, and we build the commercial case underneath it: entitlement, records, valuation and quantum. One thing worth knowing is that legal advice privilege attaches to advice from qualified lawyers, so our advice does not carry it. Where privilege matters, we are happy to be instructed through your solicitor.
The contract and any amendments, the drawings and specification, your applications and any payment or payless notices, the programme, correspondence with the other side, and whatever site records exist. Send what you have. Part of the job is working out what is missing and what can be reconstructed.
Tell us the date in your first message and call rather than email if it is tight. We will be straight with you about whether it can be done properly in the time available. Please note that sending an enquiry does not create an appointment or protect a deadline. Nothing is running until we have agreed scope in writing.
A short conversation is usually enough to see what you are dealing with and what the sensible next step is.