CONSTRUCTION DISPUTE RESOLUTION

The resolution of a construction dispute is rarely easy. The nature of the dispute, the contract and events all play a role in how the matter may be resolved. It is the unravelling of the intertwined threads leading to the dispute that can quite often ascertain whether a position of damage limitation is adopted or whether to go on the offensive. Quite often once the root cause of a dispute is determined and clearly explained the dispute may be resolved within a matter of hours. However, in some instances the parties become so entrenched that neither will give way and the only paths will be litigation, arbitration or adjudication.

Lee Kyson has recently successfully assisted both Contractors / Builders and Employers / Clients in either presenting their claim or defending a claim against them.

This recently culminated in the defence of a £65k claim against a Contractor from Barking by going on the offensive and successfully presenting a case for Adjudication to determine the validity of the 'Termination of Contractor's employment' under a JCT MW2011 contract.

There will be some case studies to follow shortly.

If you have ended up reading this page it may be a bit late for advice in some aspects, however, if you are going to employ a builder ensure that you employ a contractor who is a bona fide builder and not someone who is just going to use labourers to carry out skilled tasks. We are receiving an ever increasing volume of enquiries regarding builders who have drawn excessive amounts of money and have then left job or they have been kicked off for bad work. Homeowners have been left £30k, £50k out of pocket and in, some instances, homes that are totally uninhabitable.

Quite often these rogue contractors get away with it because the homeowners decide to do their own 'Project Management' or 'Contract Administration', professional jobs in which it take years to become accomplished. Remember if you do your own contract administration or project management then you are stepping into the shoes of a professional and are giving out the message that you too are a professional. If you have taken on these roles it is difficult to later claim to be a layperson. Irrespective of whether you are the person described and this has happened to you, lets see the best way forward because you are still entitled to have what you've paid for.

Some builders will 'front load' their quotes or payment plans so that they are receiving more money from the outset than the true value of the work carried out. This will result in 'the point of no return' whereby the contractor has drawn so much money from the project that the value left in the project will be less than his expenditure for wages and materials. The consequence of this being that the workforce will be cut down or even removed, returning sporadically to do minor jobs then disappearing until you end up terminating the contract. It may only be then that you find out what has actually happened.

There are some builders who use the FMB logo but are not members. If you wish to have your builder confirmed as a FMB member feel free to contact me and I will enquire on your behalf. The FMB expelled 26 members last year.

Learn More → A couple of case studies where Lee has been of assistance.