JCT - Contract Monitor/Advisor/Administrator on Behalf of Contractor

[listerjones]

Good Afternoon All,

I am a Building Surveyor and have been a consultant Contract Administrator (CA) for over a decade. One aspect I always note is, although an unamended JCT is fairly weighted between both Contractor and Employer, the execution of the contract is by a professional CA however, there is more often than not, no one on the contractors side for monitoring said execution.

I am toying with the idea of starting a consultancy business for the contractors side of the equation in an aim to "balance the books", and therefore, would like to invite all to provide feedback/thoughts/opinions as to whether this is something the Contractors side of the industry needs or not.

My thoughts on services would be as follows:

• Provide feedback and advice on JCT type/s being proposed by the employer.
• Provide reviews on JCT draft/s and Heads of Terms.
• Monitor all notices, payment certifications by the CA
• Monitor all key dates for the contractor and instigating relevant notices such as application for payment, application for extension of time etc..
• Ensuring all variations are made by the CA and recorded correctly thus ensuring any disputes that may arise pertaining to unpaid variations are evidenced properly for the contractor.
• Monitoring retention amounts.
• Monitoring the defects liability period and prompting the contractor as and when they are due to receive notifications and retention release.
• Essentially ensuring the contractor stays on the right side of all contractual matters.

There are more points to monitor on the contractors side, however, the above takes the main pitfalls into account.

Trust me, in my experience, there are so many CA's that just do not full fill their roles correctly and then hide their mistakes by blaming the contractor, or issue notices, payment certs etc that are not recorded correctly or with hidden tiny written clauses that render them non-contractual should a dispute migrate to arbitration and the like.

I apologise in advance if there is no need or requirement for this practice, however, the "imbalancement" once the contract is signed has always struck me as unfair. As a CA myself under RICS ethics, I end out spending an awful lot of my time being as impartial as possible and therefore advising the contractor and at times, creating things like payment application spreadsheets for them to use.

Regarding fees, my initial thought was along the lines of 1% of the contract sum? Again, I appreciate any feedback on that and the above.

I have feedback from a contractor whom I know through a friend - He advised he was weary of JCT contracts from horror stories and as such does not take on tenders that involve JCTs. Once I explained my intended services, he agreed it would make him feel confident to take on a JCT contract having that kind of back up and professional help and thought 1% was a fair trade.

Thank you in advance for reading thus far and for providing any feedback/criticisms etc.

Kind Regards

[hobnob]

You're probably not going to find many building contractors here - most of us work in IT.

As a tip, I'd suggest defining your acronyms. In particular, I've never heard of "JCT" before. Looking online, apparently:
"JCT contracts are a standardised form of contract supplied by the JCT - the Joint Contracts Tribunal - which meet established benchmark provisions and help facilitate construction projects across the UK."

[jamesbrown]

As above, it's almost entirely white collar/professional services around here, mostly in IT. You're not the first person to assume that "contractor" means building contractor, but not around these parts...