COMMERCIAL ISSUES CORONAVIRUS
T e past ten weeks have been a rollercoaster for contractors – which is why it’s vital to check your contracts and fl ag up any issues with late payments and poor practice
Don’t get taken for a ride
Help is at hand
If you do encounter issues with cashflow or other contractual disputes, there are two avenues which may help you. As you may know, the Low-Cost Value
financial pressures until the industry gets up to full capacity, but that might not be until 2021. So please allow me to give you some thoughts on what I think the future holds until then.
By Len Bunton FRICS FCIArb, HON FRIAS
SEC Group Scotland W
hen I wrote my last article for CABLEtalk back in early March, I had no idea what the weeks
and months ahead would bring, and since then it’s been a daily rollercoaster for us all.
As SELECT Members read this, I expect some of you will be back at work in the new world we all now face, and on the commercial and domestic side will be dealing with the re-negotiation of contracts and site operating procedures (SOPs). There’s no doubt there will be huge
34 CABLEtalk JUNE/JULY 2020
We all need to work smarter When you get back on site there will be an impact on productivity – the public sector in particular is under pressure to treat people fairly and to be reasonable over the additional costs that will be involved. If you encounter any issues with unfair and shoddy practice and poor payers, then PLEASE contact SELECT as soon as possible. Even better – don’t work for poor payers in the first place. It might sound strange in the current climate, but I have several clients who have now told large contractors that they won’t tender to them again. It’s far from clear if the industry will
have a forward workbook, and there’s pressure on the Scottish Government and the public sector to bring projects forward and get them out to tender. But let us be clear – it’s going to be tough, and you’ll need to be smarter moving forward. More than ever before, it’s important to closely read every sub-contract, get your applications for payment in on time, provide all the detail you can – and chase, chase and chase again for payment. The industry reputation on quality
is extremely poor, which is why there’s a great reluctance from the public sector to get rid of retentions. Therefore, it’s up to you contractors to produce the right
Adjudication Scheme was introduced earlier this year. It deals with disputes between £2,000 and £50,000 and because there are fixed fees for the adjudicator, costs won’t run away. Secondly, there’s the new Conflict
Avoidance Process (CAP) where if contentious issues arise on a project, the parties can call in an experienced industry person to help the parties resolve issues. This is working very effectively. You’ll fi nd details of both of the
above on the Construction Industry Coronavirus (CICV) Forum website, which brings me on to…
A first in 40 years Elsewhere in this issue you’ll have read about the CICV Forum, and I wanted to pay tribute to its impact and to the significant role that SELECT has paid in it.
quality – so up your game. As we all know, shoddy workmanship equals no payment, while top quality workmanship leads to more good quality projects. So now more than ever, ensure you leave a defect-free project at completion so there are no excuses to withhold payment.
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