Category 04
Insights on cost control
Valuations, change control, outturn forecasting and the records that settle an argument.
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...
Read 11 Dec 2025Change 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.
Read 29 Aug 2024Dayworks, the most disputed line in the account
Dayworks pay for time rather than for output, which reverses every incentive measurement is designed to create.
Read 18 Jul 2024Payment 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.
Read 13 Apr 2023Loss 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.
Read 02 Mar 2023Forecasting 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.
Read 12 Aug 2021The 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.
Read 30 Jun 2021Instructions 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.
Read 19 May 2021Valuing 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...
Read