Top tips 4 and 5 - delay and disruption claims

Here are my final top tips in relation to delay and disruption claims.

My fourth tip is maintain and organise records: having created the factual evidence and the audit trail to be able to later tell your version of events, make sure you have an organised record keeping system so that your evidence of disruption isn’t lost or difficult to find. Setting up a separate dispute folder for particular disruptive events and copying relevant records and correspondence into it at the time can really help. This can cut down the need to trawl back through project records in the event you need to make or defend a claim in the future, which will save you time and money.

Finally, tell your story, back it up and sense check: if you do need to make a claim for disruption you’ll need to explain what disruption occurred, why it happened and what effect it had on the works. Whether you’re bringing or defending a claim, you’ll need to tell your version of events, using contemporaneous evidence from the project records to support it. You’ll need to use a recognised method of analysis, such as the measured mile, to determine the lost productivity or inefficiency. You’ll then need to sense check the claim – making sure it accounts for any of your own deficiencies and that it doesn’t include duplication. Bear in mind that with disruption claims the more reliable methods of analysis typically take more time, but hard work does pay off.