Category 04
Insights on cost control
Valuations, change control, outturn forecasting and the records that settle an argument.
What you are signing when you certify
The application is what the contractor believes they are owed. The certificate is what an independent assessment says is due. Where those two are...
Change control on design and build
Before tender a change is priced by several parties who want the work. After signature it is priced by one who already has it. Nothing else about the...
What practical completion actually triggers
Practical completion is not a milestone in a programme. It is a switch that changes several financial positions at once, and it is usually certified...
Early warning, and the cost of finding out late
Every construction problem has a moment when it is cheap and a moment when it is not. The distance between them is usually measured in weeks, and the...
Acceleration, and whether it is worth paying for
Acceleration is one of the few things on a construction project where spending more money can genuinely save money. It is also one of the easiest to...
Extensions of time and the cost that follows
Granting time is not agreeing to pay. The two are decided under different provisions and on different evidence, and they are settled together far too...
Change control that stops a claim forming
Claims are not caused by change. They are caused by change that nobody valued while the facts were still available.
Dayworks, the most disputed line in the account
Dayworks pay for time rather than for output, which reverses every incentive measurement is designed to create.
Payment notices, pay less notices and deadlines
The payment provisions are the only part of a construction contract where being right about the money does not help if you missed a date.
Loss and expense, what has to be proved
Loss and expense is not the same as extension of time and it is not the same as a variation. It is its own mechanism with its own requirements.
Forecasting outturn while you can still act
Committed cost tells you where you have been. Forecast outturn tells you where you are going, and it is the only one of the two you can still change.
The monthly cost report a developer can use
Most cost reports describe what has already happened. A useful one tells you what is about to, while you can still do something about it.
Instructions given verbally and paid for twice
Nobody sets out to instruct work verbally. It happens because somebody needed an answer that afternoon and the alternative was to stop.
Valuing a variation under the contract rules
Most variation arguments are not about money. They are about which valuation rule applies, and the parties are arguing past each other because nobody...