contract preparation and drafting support
Good administration starts before signature. We assemble the contract documents, check that the drawings, specifications, bills and preliminaries are consistent with one another, and advise on particular conditions, payment mechanisms, liquidated damages, insurances, bonds and retention. Where a bespoke amendment is proposed we set out in plain terms what it changes in practice and where it creates risk for the client. The aim is a contract that reflects the deal that was negotiated, with the administrative machinery clear enough that both parties know exactly what to do when something changes.
day-to-day administration during construction
During the works we issue instructions and variation orders, assess and certify interim payments, respond to contractor submissions and notices within the contractual periods, and maintain the registers that keep the record straight. Extensions of time are assessed against the programme and the contractual grounds, with the analysis written down at the time rather than reconstructed months later. We also administer the quality and completion machinery: inspections, non-conformance, taking-over, and the certification that releases retention. Consistent, prompt administration is the single most effective way of preventing claims from forming.
dispute avoidance and resolution
When disagreement does arise, the contemporaneous record decides it. Because we keep that record as a matter of routine, entitlement can usually be established quickly and settled commercially. Where matters escalate we prepare the contractual analysis, support negotiation and mediation, and provide the documented evidence needed for adjudication or arbitration. Our starting position, however, is always the cheaper one: identify the issue early, notify it correctly, and resolve it while the parties still need each other on site.
what you receive
- —contract document assembly and review
- —advice on particular conditions and amendments
- —instructions, variation orders and registers
- —interim and final payment certification
- —assessment of extensions of time and loss claims
- —completion, taking-over and retention certificates
If you need a contract administrator who applies the contract consistently to both parties and keeps the paperwork defensible, we can take that role on new projects or step into a project already under construction.
discuss your project