DJJ Consultancy Ltd have extended our Payment Terms.

We can now offer longer Payment Terms from our standard 14 & 30 days from date of Invoice Due Date for Payment.

We can now extend our payments terms too 60, 90 and 120 days from Invoice Due Date to help business stretched cashflow

*The above terms are based on credit checking

Force Majeure

Check for an express force majeure clause.

Contract Force Majeure clauses will generally stated description of events that are required to occur for works so they can be suspended.

If the clause states one of the events then force majeure will have occurred and rendered the works impossible or delayed or disrupted (disrupted or frustrated are deemed as the works becoming substantially more difficult and more time consuming but still possible by other means).

One Must carefully review:

• whether the event or change is a force majeure event;
• if causation has occurred;
• whether the impact of the event on the contract is beyond the affected party’s control;
• whether the Contractor and or Supplier took all reasonable steps to prevent the Delay or Disruption.
• What risk reduction measures to lessen the Delay or Disruption have taken place.
• Consideration of Cash flow issues surrounding potential advance payments or due Payments and or retention already made.

Frustration

If there is no Force Majeure Clause in your contract or the clause does not extend to the specific circumstances in play at the relevant time, parties may need to rely on the term of frustration. This route has many risks and generally is not a good hand to play and should only be played as a last resort.

There are some items of Frustration to consider if so:

• The event or change to the works information must provide due cause and make the works would therefore be impossible or substantially different from the works information or contract terms entered under hand or by deed;
• The contract does not have a Force Majeure clause or does not have a clause to deal with a viral infection or Pandemic !
• The contract provides stated risks that at the time of agreeing the contract terms; that later proves to be incorrect.

The other main frustration claims that could be pursued and or not

Pursued

1. The government imposes a nationwide ban on large events which therefore causes disruption and frustration !

Or not

1. If the relevant event could of reasonably occurred but neither party therefor disruption and or frustration will not be available as a defense of breach.

The above advice is based on a view of the law and its limitations at the time of the Published review of Force Majeure and Frustration

If you require further advice and assistance please email one of our team at info@djjconsultancy.co.uk or gary@djjconsultancy.co.uk or visit our website at www.djjconsultancy.co.uk

We have reviewed some of the common changes between the two contract forms from NEC 3 to NEC 4 and have listed and overview as below.

1. Terminology – The new NEC4 ECC has incorporated some amended terms; the ‘Employer’ becomes ‘Client’, and ‘Works Information’ becomes ‘Scope’. This falls in line with common construction industry language and it makes it clear to everyone, even people that have not necessarily used the NEC suite of contracts before.
2. Programme -There are some programming changes (as can be seen in clause 31.3), which are similar to those used in compensation events, that solves the impasse that can sometimes occur when assessing programme submissions.
3. Early Warnings – With regards to early warnings, in NEC4 the ‘Risk Register’ has been renamed the ‘Early Warning Register’ to help separate it from the project risk register, often used as a wider project management tool.
4. Payments – Contractors must submit applications for payments, rather than the project manager being obliged to assess if they don’t.

5. The NEC is all about collaboration and mutual trust, and these new items included within NEC4 are aimed at encouraging exactly that:

1. Disputed Matters W1 – W2 changes – There is now an option for a four-week period for escalation and negotiation of a potential dispute, which takes place prior to any formal proceedings. This requires a nominated senior representative of each party (named in the Contract Data) to meet and try to reach a negotiated solution; this has obvious time and cost benefits, as we all know how expensive and time-consuming any formal proceedings can be.
2. Identifying opportunities – This additional procedure allows for the identification of opportunities by either party (client or contractor).

8. Additional provisions in ECC NEC4 include the following:
   1. Collaboration – In secondary option X12, ‘Partnering’ has been amended to ‘Collaboration’ to better reflect the intent i.e. that collaboration is a key provision within the suite of contracts.
   2. Retention – The secondary option X16 for retention now includes the optional provision of a retention bond instead of having money retained.
   3. Fee percentage – There is now only one fee percentage, with no separate fee percentage for subcontracted works.
   4. Schedule of cost components – These changes have been made to simplify this section, and under options C, D and E the Short Schedule has been removed in its entirety and is only used for option A and B.

We at Djj Consultancy are Construction Claims Specialists that have experienced consultants that can advise your team and or you on the common pitfalls of the contract and provide contract opinion and or if so required sit with your team or you for a period of time to help you.

The UK construction industry is sadly plagued by unpaid debts. A recent report indicated that each UK construction firm writes off around averagely between £ 10,000 to £100,000 of bad debt each year – but this needn’t be the case.

Recovering Debt in the Construction Industry UK

It is essential that those in the construction industry look to protect their business against business losses. Cash flow is essential to keeping your business afloat and whether you are owed a few thousand pounds or several hundred thousand, Debt Collect can help you recover the funds due to you.

Debt recovery in the construction industry requires specialist expertise, the complex nature of construction contracts can often mean you are paid less than you are owed, not paid on time, or even not paid at all. One of the biggest issues for construction debt is retention payment recovery and many businesses struggle to get these payments back. However, here at debt collect we can work with you and your debtors to maximise your debt recovery.

Djj Consultancy are a Construction Claims Specialist that can help you recover unpaid business debts and get your cash flow back on track. We help all kinds of business from wholesale retailers to construction business and from small business right up to major PLC’s.