What do you need from us to start?

The current drawing set with revision numbers, the specification if one exists, and the model if there is one. If part of that is missing we can still measure, with the gaps recorded as assumptions on the face of the schedule. What we will not do is silently fill a gap and let it read as a measured quantity.

Which standard do you measure to?

NRM2 for bills and pricing schedules, NRM1 elemental structure where the output feeds a cost plan . If a project is running to a different rule set, we will follow it and say so in the basis of measurement. What matters is that one rule applies throughout and that everyone pricing knows which one.

Our model is not very good. Is it still worth using?

Often yes, for the parts that are modelled properly. The judgement is which elements to trust and which to measure conventionally, and that judgement is made explicitly rather than assumed. A model that is only reliable for the frame and the envelope is still saving you time on the frame and the envelope.

Can you check quantities in a claim or final account?

Yes, and it is a frequent instruction. Remeasurement of contested work, verification of a contractor's quantities, and testing whether claimed items were already inside the original scope. That work sits alongside final accounts and disputes .

Final Account Dispute Review | Disputed Accounts

01
The account reconciled: contract sum against the account as submitted and as assessed, with every movement between them traced to its cause.
02
Disputed items on a schedule: each contested item set out on its own line with its value, its basis and the evidence that stands behind it.
03
Deductions tested: contra charges, set off and liquidated damages examined against what the contract allows and what was actually notified.
04
A settlement position: what the account is realistically worth, and where the gap between the two positions can be closed if it can.

A disputed final account is rarely one argument. It is thirty small arguments carried in a spreadsheet, and the total only moves when the items underneath it are dealt with one at a time.

The submitted account and the assessed account usually differ for reasons that nobody has written down. Variations valued on different rules, remeasurement neither side has checked, contra charges that appeared without notice, retention that has not been released and nobody can say why.

Arguing about the total gets nowhere, because the total is a symptom. The work is to take the gap apart, put each difference on its own line, and establish for each one what the contract says, what the records show and what it is worth.

Accounts also settle on fatigue. One side runs out of patience, or out of cash, and takes a number that has nothing to do with the merits. A position set out properly is what keeps that from being the only option on the table.

01

Contract sum reconciliation

Contract sum, adjustments and the account as submitted, reconciled so the gap between the two positions becomes a list.

02

Contested variations

Each disputed variation against the instruction, the measured scope and the valuation rule the contract actually sets out.

03

Remeasurement where it bites

The items where quantity is the argument rather than rate, measured again so the difference stops being a matter of opinion.

04

Deductions and contra charges

What was deducted, on what contractual basis, whether it was notified in time and whether the amount can be supported.

05

Retention position

What is held, what has fallen due, what remains conditional on defects, and what the contract requires before release.

06

Quantum and evidence

Each head of the claim with the records behind it, so the figures can be tested rather than accepted or refused as a lump.

This service is separate from final account preparation and agreement. That work is about assembling the account properly and getting it settled, and it continues to be available in its own right.

This one starts after that process has failed. The account exists, it has been assessed, and the two sides are apart. The deliverable is a position on the disputed items, not a fresh account.

Final account preparation and agreement

How is this different from final account preparation?

Preparation assembles and agrees the account in the ordinary way. This review starts once that has stopped working: the account is already submitted, already assessed, and the two positions are apart with nobody moving.

Can you work from the other side's assessment?

Yes, and often that is the quickest route in. Their assessment states what they have allowed and what they have refused, which turns the argument into a list of items rather than a disagreement about one number.

The contra charges appeared without warning. Does that matter?

It can matter a great deal, because most contracts require a deduction to be notified in a particular way and by a particular date. Whether that happened is one of the first things the review establishes.

Is retention part of this?

Yes, where it forms part of the dispute. Where retention is the only issue, the retention recovery assessment is the narrower and cheaper piece of work, and we would say so rather than run the wider review.