Where we work
Commercially contentious
Schemes already in dispute or heading there
Some instructions arrive after the position has already broken down. The account is stalled, variations are unresolved, or the parties have stopped agreeing on what was in the original scope. We provide independent quantity surveying support on contentious construction projects across the UK, working from the records rather than from the argument.
The starting position
By the time we are called, the argument is already several months old
A contentious instruction rarely begins with a single event. It begins with a series of small things left open, each one reasonable at the time. A variation instructed verbally. A delay everybody agreed to sort out later. A payment notice issued late because the surveyor was on another job that week.
Six months on, those items have combined into a number one party believes is obvious and the other believes is invented. Both are usually working from documents the other has not read, and both have hardened a position before establishing whether the evidence supports it.
Work at this point is forensic rather than advisory. The question stops being what the job should cost and becomes what was instructed, what was built, what the contract says about it, and what the records can actually prove. Those are four separate questions and they frequently give four different answers.
The problem, and what we do about it
Four reasons a position is weaker than it feels
A party arriving at a dispute is usually confident. Confidence is not the same as entitlement, and the gap between them is where money is lost. These are the four places that gap normally opens.
Nobody can say what the original scope was
Tender documents, a revised drawing set, a schedule of amendments, an email confirming a change before contract, and a specification that was never formally superseded. Each party quotes the version that suits them, and neither is being dishonest.
We rebuild the contract baseline from the executed documents and their order of precedence, and we state which documents form it and which do not. Almost every contentious account improves the moment both parties are measuring against the same starting point, and a surprising number resolve there without going further.
One baseline both sides can checkThe records do not support the claim
Entitlement on a construction project is proved contemporaneously or it is not proved. Site diaries that stop after month four, instructions never confirmed in writing, and progress photographs nobody dated are the normal condition rather than the exception.
Before forming a position we audit what evidence exists, item by item, and grade it. That produces an uncomfortable conversation early and a much better outcome later, because effort goes into the items that can be proved rather than being spread evenly across items that cannot.
Effort spent where the evidence isTime and money have been merged
Entitlement to an extension of time and entitlement to the cost associated with it are decided under different provisions, on different evidence, and against different tests. Negotiated together as one figure, the outcome favours whoever is under less pressure.
We separate them and assess each on its own material. Delay is established against the programme and the events; the associated cost is established against what was actually incurred and what the contract allows. Doing it separately is slower in the moment and consistently produces a better settlement.
Two questions answered separatelyThe claim has grown past its entitlement
A position pursued past the point the evidence supports it costs more than the entitlement it was chasing. Fees accumulate, management time disappears, and the commercial relationship ends whether or not the number is recovered.
We tell you early where the position is weak, in writing, including when the honest answer is that a claim should be dropped or settled below expectation. Independence is worth nothing if it only produces the answer the instructing party wanted, and an adviser who confirms your view is cheaper up front and expensive at the end.
An early answer, including the unwelcome oneMethod
How a forensic instruction actually runs
The order matters. Establishing the facts before forming the argument is what separates a position that survives scrutiny from one that collapses the first time somebody tests it.
Establish the baseline
Which documents form the contract, in what order of precedence, and what scope and price they fix. Everything afterwards is measured against this and nothing else.
Audit the record
Instructions, notices, valuations, payment and payless notices, programmes, site records and correspondence. What exists, what is dated, and what would stand up if somebody hostile read it.
Value what actually happened
Each item valued against the contract mechanism that applies to it, with the evidence referenced line by line. Items with no support are identified as such rather than carried at full value.
Report the range, not a single number
A defensible position, a likely settlement, and the exposure if the matter proceeds. That is what a commercial decision needs. A single optimistic figure is not advice, it is encouragement.
Where the money moves
Five places contentious accounts are won and lost
01Valuing variations after the eventRates, records and the work nobody measured
A variation valued at the time is a measurement exercise. Valued eighteen months later, once the work is covered up and the operatives have moved on, it becomes an archaeological one. The contract rules on valuation still apply, but applying them requires facts that may no longer be recoverable.
Where contract rates apply, they apply whether or not either party now likes them. In cases where the work differs in character or conditions, a fair valuation is required, and that is where the argument sits. We value against the mechanism rather than against a negotiating position, and we say which rule we have used on each item.
02Delay and disruption evidenceTwo different claims, proved in two different ways
Delay pushes the completion date. Disruption reduces productivity without necessarily moving the end date at all. They are separate claims, they recover differently, and conflating them is one of the most common reasons a claim fails.
Delay is established against the programme and the events affecting the critical path. Disruption is established from labour allocation, area availability and progress records made at the time. Retrospective analysis assembled after the event carries very little weight in either direction, which cuts both ways depending on which side you are on.
03Payment notices and the payment regimeProcedure that decides outcomes on its own
The statutory payment framework in the United Kingdom is unforgiving about dates. A payment notice or a pay less notice issued late, or not issued at all, can fix the sum due at the notified amount regardless of what the works are actually worth.
That mechanism produces outcomes that feel wrong to whichever party is on the receiving end, and it is entirely independent of the merits. Part of any review of a contentious account is a check of the notice history on both sides, because it frequently changes the commercial position before anybody has valued a single item.
Where the question turns on the interpretation of the contract or the operation of the statute rather than on measurement, that is legal advice and we say so. We work alongside solicitors on those matters rather than in place of them.
04Adjudication, and what it does not doFast, binding for now, and unforgiving of thin evidence
Adjudication is quick and the decision binds the parties until it is finally determined elsewhere. Speed is its advantage and also its constraint: the timetable leaves very little room to build a case that was not already documented before it started.
A party with organised records and a clear valuation is in a strong position. A party intending to assemble the evidence during the process is usually not. Preparation therefore happens before a notice is served, not after, and the honest assessment of whether the evidence supports the claim belongs at that point too.
Our role is the commercial and quantum work: establishing the baseline, valuing the items and evidencing them. The legal strategy sits with the party's solicitors.
05Settling, and knowing whenThe commercial answer is rarely the maximum one
Most contentious accounts settle. The useful question is not whether a claim could succeed but what it costs to pursue, how long it takes, what management time it consumes and what it does to a relationship that may still have value.
Reporting a range rather than a figure is what makes that decision possible. A defensible position, a likely settlement and the downside if the matter runs gives a board something to decide on. A single number invites a negotiation that starts from a place nobody can defend.
Where we think a matter should settle, we say so and explain why, including when that is not what the instructing party hoped to hear.
Scope of an instruction
What we issue on a contentious account
Most contentious instructions begin with a review rather than a full appointment, because the first useful output is an honest assessment of whether the position is worth pursuing. Scope and the party we act for are confirmed in writing before anything begins.
A contract baseline stating which documents form it and in what order of precedence
An audit of the available records, graded by what each item can actually support
Variations valued against the contract mechanism, with the rule applied stated per item
Delay and the cost associated with it assessed separately, on their own evidence
A review of the payment and pay less notice history on both sides
A reported range: defensible position, likely settlement, and exposure if it proceeds
Questions
Asked on contentious accounts
Is it too late to bring you in?
Usually not, but the available outcomes narrow as time passes, because the evidence does. The earlier a position is established the more of it can be supported. Where a matter is already in adjudication or litigation, we work alongside the party's solicitors on quantum rather than taking the lead.
Will you tell us if our claim is weak?
Yes, in writing and early. An adviser who only confirms the instructing party's view is cheap at the start and very expensive at the end. Where a position will not survive scrutiny, saying so is the most valuable thing we can do, whatever it does to the size of the instruction.
Are you solicitors?
No. We are a commercial and quantity surveying practice. Where a question turns on the interpretation of the contract or the operation of the statute rather than on measurement and valuation, that is legal advice and we say so rather than answering it. We work alongside solicitors regularly and are comfortable in that arrangement.
Can you act as an expert witness?
Expert appointments carry duties to the tribunal that override any duty to the instructing party, and they require the appropriate standing for the forum in question. Tell us what stage the matter has reached and what is needed, and we will say plainly whether that is work we should take or whether you need somebody else.
What records should we send you first?
The executed contract with its amendments and appendices, the tender documents it refers to, all instructions and their confirmations, every valuation with its payment and pay less notices, and the programmes with their revisions. That set alone usually establishes most of the position before anything is measured.
Can you act for us if you advised the other party earlier?
No. One side per project, without exception and in either order. We confirm the capacity we are acting in before an instruction begins, and where a conflict exists we decline immediately rather than after a scope discussion.
Where to go next
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