We help you understand your position, organise the evidence and decide how to move forward. Most matters settle commercially. Where they do not, the strength of the case depends 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.
Construction claims often turn on records, valuation, programme and contractual compliance. BPH handles the commercial and quantum work directly, bringing in or working alongside solicitors where formal legal advice, litigation or court enforcement is required.
This keeps each part of the matter with the right specialist and helps keep the overall cost of resolving the dispute proportionate.
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 an Expert Witness instruction within BPH's confirmed expertise in construction cost and quantum.
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.
BPH can accept appropriately scoped Expert Witness instructions concerning construction cost, quantum and quantity-surveying matters, alongside independent commercial and quantum assessments for your own decision-making.
Delay-related quantum concerns the financial consequences of delay, such as prolongation costs and loss and expense. BPH does not currently provide specialist forensic critical-path delay opinions or expert programme evidence. Where formal delay analysis is needed alongside quantum, see Construction Programming & Progress Reporting.
BPH may assist a client or contractor with commercial reviews, claims preparation, quantum analysis, adjudication support and dispute strategy.
When appointed as an expert witness, BPH provides an independent and objective opinion within the confirmed area of expertise. The expert's duty is to the court or tribunal and BPH does not act as an advocate in that role.
Expert Witness instructions are accepted only where the issues fall within BPH's confirmed expertise in construction cost and quantum, subject to conflict checks, the terms of appointment and confirmation of appropriate professional indemnity cover.
BPH provides commercial and quantum services, not legal representation. Where formal legal advice, pleadings, conduct of litigation or other reserved legal services are required, the client must instruct an appropriately qualified solicitor.
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, within BPH's confirmed expertise in construction cost, quantum and quantity-surveying practice, subject to conflict checks, the terms of appointment and confirmation of appropriate professional indemnity cover. An expert witness owes an independent, objective duty to the court or tribunal, not to the party who instructs them, and BPH does not act as an advocate in that role. This does not extend to specialist forensic delay analysis, and 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.