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 .

Initial Dispute Review | Construction Disputes

01
A position, not an opinion: whether the contract supports the claim, said in terms you can act on, with the clauses that carry the position.
02
The evidence you do not have: what is missing from the records, named while there is still time to find it or to stop the claim going further.
03
The commercial exposure: what the dispute is likely to absorb in cost and management time, set against what is realistically at stake.
04
A recommended next step: one route with the reasoning behind it, which is sometimes that there is no position here worth pursuing.

The decision to fight is usually taken on frustration rather than on entitlement. By the time somebody tests the contract, costs have been committed and both sides have put their position in writing.

A dispute that has been running for months carries its own momentum. Letters have been sent, positions have been stated, and both sides have told their own people that they are right. None of that establishes whether the contract supports the claim.

The questions that decide the outcome are narrow. Which clause applies. Whether the notice was served and when. What the records actually show. Those questions can be answered in days, and they are cheaper to answer before the correspondence becomes the evidence.

This is also the point at which a claim can be stopped. Finding out that the entitlement is not there is an uncomfortable answer, but it costs a fraction of finding out later, and it is part of what the review is for.

01

Contract provisions

The clauses that govern the issue, the contract particulars and any amendments, read as written rather than as remembered.

02

Key correspondence

The letters, instructions and notices that carry the position, read in the order they were sent rather than the order they are quoted.

03

The disputed issues

What is actually in dispute, separated from what has simply become unpleasant, and reduced to a list that can be answered.

04

Entitlement indicators

Whether the contract gives a route to additional payment or time for what happened, and how strong that route looks on the papers.

05

Evidence gaps

What the records do not show, named plainly, with a view on whether the gap can still be closed or whether it is fatal.

06

Commercial risk

What the dispute is likely to absorb in cost and in management time, weighed against what recovery would realistically look like.

An initial review is deliberately narrow. It does not prepare a claim, assemble a bundle or value anything in detail. It answers one question: is there a position here worth taking further, and on what basis.

If the answer is yes, the work that follows is one of the defined services in this category, and the review feeds straight into it. If the answer is no, you have the reasoning in writing before the costs start.

All claims and dispute services

How long does an initial review take?

It depends on the volume of correspondence, but the work is measured in days rather than weeks. The scope is agreed in advance so that it does not expand while it runs, and you are told early if the papers are larger than described.

Will you tell me if I do not have a claim?

Yes. That is one of the outcomes this review exists to produce. It is written down with the reasoning behind it rather than delivered as a view over the phone, so you can put it in front of whoever needs to see it.

Do you act for contractors or for clients?

Both, but never on the same project. The capacity we act in is confirmed before an instruction begins and it does not change part way through, which is the only way the position we give you stays worth anything to you.

What happens after the review?

If there is a position worth taking, the next step is usually one of the defined services in this category, and the review already contains most of what that work needs, so nothing is assembled twice.