RESOLVING DISPUTES

Building and renovation can be a stressful experience and, despite everyone's best intentions, sometimes disputes arise which simply cannot be resolved between the parties. 

This may be because one side is being unreasonable or it may be that, through no fault of the parties, there is confusion as to what the obligations of each party was.  Common examples of disputes include disputes about:

When there is a dispute, our experience in the construction industry tells us that it is generally best for parties to hand the dispute to someone independent who can resolve the dispute quickly and cost effectively. BUILDSAFE is partnered with the Building Disputes Tribunal to provide registered users of the BUILDSAFE scheme with a cost effective, professional and prompt service for the resolution of building disputes.

Disputes about Practical Completion or Completion

One type of dispute may be whether  Practical Completion or Completion has been achieved.  This would be a dispute for the purpose of the BUILDSAFE Scheme and the Construction Contracts Act 2002 and, if the Parties are unable to resolve the matter directly within 2 working days, any such dispute will immediately be referred to adjudication.

You can read more about adjudication on the Building Disputes Tribunal
website

Where the dispute relates to Practical Completion or Completion, the Contractor must advise whether or not it will complete or fix/rectify any work determined by the independent adjudicator .  If they decide not to,  the dispute will involve a determination of the contractor’s liability to complete or rectify the disputed items of work and the value of that work. 

The Security Amount may then be paid to the Owner to enable them to have another contractor complete the defective work.

The determination of any significant disputed matters will take no more than 6 weeks with many simple disputes regarding completion being resolved in less than 2 weeks – that is how efficient the backup dispute resolution process is, and quite frankly, needs to be.

More information on how disputes are resolved can be found here...