We assist contractors in developing their claims against owners. We work with the project team and counsel during the course of the project wherever possible, with an objective of generating a complete and comprehensive claim document that can be submitted in a convincing manner on completion of the project so that the matter can be negotiated and resolved quickly from a position of full knowledge. We believe that the timeliness of the submission of a thoroughly prepared and objective claim document is a major factor in achieving a quick and satisfactory resolution.

 

We also assist owners in defending against contractor claims and in pursuing their own claims against contractors and/or design professionals. The same principles of working with the individuals with first hand knowledge of the project, relying on the project records for independent verification of the facts, and moving quickly apply.

We assist your project management team in developing, updating and revising construction schedules. Our focus is on generating a schedule that is comprehensive, compliant with contract requirements, and compatible with the contractors or owners project management systems. We develop and implement a process for capturing the information required to accurately update construction schedules that is efficient and consistent with job costing systems and payment requisitions.

 

We also provide schedule audit services where we examine existing schedules for completeness, integrity, and compliance with contract requirements and assist our clients in improving the quality of their schedules and efficiency of the scheduling process.

We review the change management systems in place on the project and provide advice for improving the efficiency of the change management process. The objectives are to achieve timely payment for extra work performed and, where this is not possible, to ensure that the contractor or owner has all the information necessary to support its position in the event of a dispute.

We provide in-house training sessions on a number of subjects including schedule management, change management, and claims avoidance.

We provide mediation services to assist our clients in resolving construction disputes. Our approach is different from the traditional one or two day sessions that focus on "getting to the number". We work with the parties over a period of time using a structured and documented process that serves to identify the issues as well as each party’s technical and monetary position on each issue. As the process evolves, the parties move towards resolution through a better understanding of their own position and each other’s position. This process has worked well on complex disputes where the decision makers within each party do not yet have a comprehensive understanding of all issues.

On request, our principals do accept mandates as arbitrators in formal arbitration proceedings in matters relating to construction.

We provide expert opinion in the areas of delay analysis, labour productivity analysis, and damages incurred during the execution of construction projects, for use in arbitration or litigation. Our principals have testified before courts and arbitration boards in Canada and the U.S.

We assist our clients in capturing and processing the information required to manage the construction project and to prepare or defend against construction claims.