Construction adjudication is a statutory right in the United Kingdom for parties to most construction contracts. A dispute is referred to an adjudicator who reaches a decision within a short timetable, and that decision binds the parties until it is finally determined by litigation, arbitration or agreement.
It was introduced to keep money moving through the supply chain rather than to deliver perfect justice, and understanding that purpose explains most of its characteristics.
The timetable is the defining feature
A notice of adjudication starts the process. The referral follows within a short period, and the adjudicator generally has twenty eight days from the referral to decide, extendable by agreement or modestly by the referring party.
The party responding is on the back foot from the outset. The referring party has prepared at leisure; the responding party receives a bundle and has days to answer it.
The practical consequence is that adjudication rewards preparation done before the process starts. A case assembled during the twenty eight days is usually a worse case than one that already existed.
What it decides and what it does not
The decision is binding and enforceable, and courts enforce adjudicators' decisions robustly even where the reasoning is arguable. Challenges succeed mainly on jurisdiction or on serious procedural unfairness rather than on the merits.
It is temporarily binding. Either party may take the matter to final determination afterwards, but in practice most adjudication decisions become the settled position because the cost of going further exceeds the value in dispute.
Treating it as a first round with a rematch available is therefore a mistake in most commercial contexts. The decision is usually the outcome.
What it costs
The adjudicator's fees, which the parties are generally jointly liable for and which the decision usually allocates. Legal and expert costs, which each party normally bears itself regardless of outcome.
That last point is significant. In most adjudications you do not recover your costs even if you win entirely. A modest claim can therefore be uneconomic to pursue, and both parties should do that arithmetic before serving anything.
There is also management cost, which is real and rarely counted. An adjudication consumes senior time for a month at short notice, on top of whatever else is happening.
The quantum work happens before
The most useful preparation is the least dramatic: a properly assembled account, evidenced item by item, with entitlement tested and the weak items already removed.
That document is the basis of a referral if you are claiming, and it is the basis of a response if you are defending. Either way it exists before the notice, or it does not exist at all.
The sequence matters. Establish the baseline, audit the records, value the items, then decide whether to refer. Doing it in the other order produces a referral that the responding party can attack on the evidence, which is set out in testing entitlement before you argue about value.
Scope of the dispute
An adjudicator's jurisdiction is defined by the notice, and disputes about jurisdiction are the most common route to a decision being unenforceable. Framing the dispute is therefore a matter for the party's solicitors rather than for a surveyor.
Referring too much is a risk: a broad referral covering an entire final account gives the adjudicator a great deal to do in twenty eight days and increases the chance of a rough decision. By contrast, referring too little leaves the rest unresolved.
Where several discrete issues exist, sequential adjudications on individual questions are often more effective than a single large one, though each carries its own cost.
What our role is
The commercial and quantum work: baseline, records, valuation, and an honest assessment of what the evidence supports, including where it does not support the client's position.
The legal strategy, the jurisdictional questions and the conduct of the adjudication sit with the party's solicitors. We work alongside them rather than in place of them, and we say so when a question crosses that line.
Where a matter is heading towards adjudication, the useful contribution is usually made before the notice rather than after, and it is set out under commercially contentious.
What this means for you
Do the arithmetic first. Costs are generally not recoverable, so a claim has to be worth pursuing after your own legal and expert costs, not before.
Then prepare the account properly whether or not you intend to refer. A well evidenced account settles most disputes without adjudication, and where it does not, it is the document you would have had to produce anyway. Our approach sits under final accounts and disputes.
Considering adjudication, or facing one?
Send what exists. We will tell you what the quantum position supports before anybody serves anything.