Construction disputes are expensive to run and slow to resolve. A dispute over an extension, a refurbishment or a commercial fit-out can involve drawings, specifications, programmes, valuations and two or more experts before anyone reaches a courtroom or an adjudication. Most of that cost adds nothing to the eventual answer.
A technical mediator
My background is in engineering, from the workshop floor to crash-structures research. I am used to reading drawings, specifications and expert reports, to understanding what a programme is actually saying, and to separating the genuine technical disagreements from the ones that are really about money, trust or communication. That lets a mediation move quickly to the issues that decide the case.
Typical matters include:
- Defects — workmanship, design, materials and the cost of putting things right.
- Payment and final accounts — disputed valuations, retention, unpaid invoices and set-off.
- Delay and disruption — extensions of time, liquidated damages and prolongation costs.
- Variations and scope — what was agreed, what was instructed and what it was worth.
- Professional negligence — claims involving architects, engineers, surveyors and project managers.
- Residential projects — disputes between homeowners and builders, where the sums are serious and the stress is personal.
Fitting around the contract
Mediation sits comfortably alongside adjudication, arbitration and litigation. It can be used before a formal process starts, in parallel with it, or to settle the points an adjudicator’s decision has left open. Where the contract contains a dispute-resolution clause, the mediation is arranged to comply with it.
