No Escape From Reality!
Barry Ashmore
Resolving Disputes for Specialist Contractors In Construction Via Ashmore Consulting And Streetwisesubbie.com Ltd
Is this the real life?
Is this just fantasy?
Caught in a landside,
No escape from reality
Open your eyes,
Look up to the skies and see!
Apologies if you're not a fan of Queen's music, but these lyrics came to mind when I was thinking about this week's Wise Up Wednesday informational email (if you are a Specialist Contractor and you don't receive it please email us at [email protected]).
And, further apologies to anyone who is easily offended by the truth!
I am becoming increasingly frustrated with the state of the UK construction industry and the continuing arrogance and ignorance of all those that would have you believe that we are making any progress at all towards fair treatment, fair payment, or fair allocation of risk, as between Contractors and Specialist Contractors.
And I am repeating an extract from my book "The Steetwise Subbie" 4th edition, about the "Real World" that is to say "Reality!"
A lifetime ago the book's original author Jack Russel referred to the ‘love affair between the ‘partners’ at the top of our industry’, and said that back on the site little has changed. Boy oh boy, would he be sad to know that nothing much has changed. Except perhaps the amount of BS that some of the lovebirds spout!
In reality, if you stand up for yourself you are accused by the Contractor of being ‘contractual’, ‘confrontational’, or ‘negative’. But if you don't do what you need to do when you need to do it you will perish at the hands of that same Contractor!
And if you think that I don't know about the "real world", have a read of the way a typical project goes and then tell me how far off the mark I am:
?1. The ‘honeymoon’ period everyone gets along fine
?????and not much thought is given to the terms of your contract
?2. The Contractor urges you to get on site even though the site isn't ready
?3. You work where you can on a piecemeal ‘seek and find’ basis.
?4. The project falls further behind on various fronts.
?5. Access delays and obstructions, building shell leaks like a sieve.
?6. Variations flow through from the design team.
?7. Contractor now in serious delay.
?8. Contractor issues revised programmes almost every week.
?9. Your works have been dramatically compressed
?10. The Contractor's whole concept is absurdly optimistic.
?11. You are threatened with ‘failure to use best endeavours’ and damages.
?12. You are coerced into increased labour, working weekends.
?13. Project even further behind.
领英推荐
?14. You request extension of time and mention loss and expense.
?15. Contractor ignores you.
?16. Employer deducts liquidated damages from the Contractor.?????
?17. Employer moves in before building completed.
?18. You must now complete your works in an occupied environment.
?19. Employer complains about disgraceful unfinished state of the building.
?20. Contractor sets off damages for delay and contras for attendance, etc.
?21. You again request extension of time.
?22. Contractor challenges you to produce notices, prove ‘cause and effect’
?23. Contractor changes QS for more aggressive ‘hired gun’
?24. Your account is valued at a negative figure - you owe them money!
?25. You are denied your just entitlements.
?26. You are now heavily ‘in the red’.
?27. At worst, you accept defeat or become insolvent
?28. Contractor celebrates another successful project!
You may think that I am exaggerating but time and again, I see this very familiar pattern unfolding. And don't just take my word for it, this is actual text from a Contractor to a Subcontractor who has just asked for our help:
"... your EoT claim came in at the very end with no indication of any delay prolongation before this point, as per the Subcontract terms clause 9.6 we cannot award an EoT or assess something that wasn’t detailed at the time it was likely to occur, there has been no records issued to us up until the last valuation so, ..."
Guess what the Subcontractor is well over ￡100,000 out of pocket!
So, please if you are a Specialist Contractor "Open your eyes, Look up to the skies and see!"
And do yourselves a lot of good by accepting that the above is typical, and setting out your stall from day one, with the object of avoiding as much of the agony as possible and, above all, avoiding that end of job dispute.
This means starting out with a fair set of terms, clear timescales, an agreed baseline programme, good site diary, regular progress reports, site photographs, no variations without instructions etc., and making sure all delays and claims for recovery of loss and expense are formally registered in writing as and when they become apparent and in accordance with the contract.
If you do this you will be ready, and able to respond to the various dramas as they unfold in the "real world", and will be able to protect your entitlements, thereby reducing the occurrence of disputes, and protecting your business and your sanity.
Because as the song goes there is "No escape from reality!"
I hope you enjoyed my rant and if you are a Specialist Contractor, please check out our web site and all the free information you can find there.
Please comment below or connect with me, because it is high time we rattled a few cages, because non of the existing organisations who purport to represent the interests of Specialist Contractors are capable of doing it!
And if you are afraid to comment because the Contractors might see it then private message me.
Oh, and by the way, you can get my book at a discount on our web site: https://streetwise-subbie.com/t/R0C-887H1-QTDP9E-533ZD5-0/c.aspx
Retired Services Directo at Imtech UK
1 年Hi Barry How's tricks? Cliff?
Scaffolding Professional (USED HAKI / LAYHER Sales)
2 年When I was a young man I dealt with numerous wonderful Companies .. my favourite worked on prestigious works. They had directly employed on most sites ... a Site Manager, Contracts Manager, Office Manager, QS, Site Engineer, Site Foreman, Site Storeman, Banksman Apprentices and more. They built the job in an orderly fashion, got paid by the client on time, paid everyone (I seldom heard complaints to the contrary) and moved on ( the staff count / bill clearly accepted as the consequence of things needed and built into the project cost ) .."See you on the next big job .." they would say- and we did .. Teams moved on together. It seemed someone wanted something built ... these good people would build it. When and how this working and successful model got trashed at the altar of cost I can no longer recall. Its certainly appears broken in many situations... all very sad ??
A resilient, resourceful self-starter intent on improving quality standards in construction
2 年The Streetwise Subbie book was an incredible eye opener for me. If you are a specialist subcontractor, you should buy it. And read it. While you’re at it, buy a site diary. And write in it every day. Everything that happens on site. If you do nothing else, do these two things to safeguard your business.