Our Adjudication Philosophy
Primarily for Contractors, Suppliers & Other Claimants
Contracts Experience
Currently: Provided In-House quantity surveyor consultancy to Tier 1 infrastructure civil contractors & suppliers including Pragmatic Cognitive Work Analyses of contractual claim chains from operations to tender, to workfaces, to contract administration to accounts, for payment received or recoverable.
Identifying Pre-Contract & Post Contract SWOT risk analyses provided within simple progressive Matrix Form Reports c/w solutions for clients considerations, all in relation to their following completed and future contract works:
Infrastructure Projects: FIFO Offshore Commonwealth Government facilities & Onshore Defence facilities; TMR roadworks for Property Developers, Builders and Councils; and Qld Govt. Ministry Department civil works for Social Housing developments
Industrial Projects & Civil Works: Rail workshops & light rail; Upgrades for fuel / centrifuge / pump stations; Water & sewage treatment plants; Tunnel Jet Fans; Bridge works; Electrical infrastructure; Brisbane Airport redevelopments and Manufacturing plant & facilities.
Premium High Rises: New commercial offices / hotels / apartments / carpark including refurbishments & additions in the Brisbane CBD, Brisbane Airport, Greater Brisbane and on the Gold Coast.
Health Facilities: New construction hospitals in Brisbane, Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast and Northern NSW including helipads additions to existing hospitals in Sydney and Northern NSW.
Commercial Shopping Centre Redevelopments: Brisbane, Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast and Northern NSW.
Education Facilities: Queensland Government secondary & special schools and private sector schools & colleges.
Sporting Facilities: Sports stadiums, sports & leisure centres on the Gold Coast and Northern NSW including a shooting range in Brisbane.
Current Adjudication Submissions Experience
Claims & Responses: Adjudication consultancy claims & responses formulations and submissions for Standard (<$750k Excl. GST) and Complex (>$750k Excl. GST) Adjudication Applications & Responses as well as enforcements and Litigation Support following Adjudication Decisions.
Current Barriers to Adjudication Submissions
Having had "hands on" contractor qualified site working experience together with quantity surveyor Adjudication Submissions and Registered Adjudicator experience, it is critical to have clear accurate timely documentation prior to accessing the workface and then efficiently completing the works c/w a valid payment claim for a profitable outcome.
The reality now in the current 'Communications Age', is the recurring problems encountered by contractors, suppliers & other claimants of ever growing voluminous tendering & contractual documentation compliances, prior to and at the workface, including thereafter, together with the relentless daily communication trail via hard copy & electronic submission compliances.
Further compounded, by incurred offsetting of risks & responsibilities passed down the contractual chain via "Front End" legal consultants risk offset engineered "back to back" contracts, predominantly to the workface install contractor and / or supplier. However, the current Building Industry Fairness (Security of Payment) Act 2017 (Qld) passed on 26 October 2017 with new adjudication procedures commenced on 17 December 2018 will redress some of these unfair risks and provide fairness for contractors, suppliers & other claimants.
In the face of these ever mounting obstacles to a bona fide payment claim, the claimant has to ensure sufficient profitable payment cashflow for their business owners and employees entitlements.
This is the primary object of the current Building Industry Fairness (Security of Payment) Act 2017 (Qld) & Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act 1999 (NSW), by utilising the rights and obligations of adjudication.
It is critical that a payment claim is properly supported from inception creation via operations scheduling resources, to the relevant workface records, back to contract administration for timely submission, and for payment to be received by accounts for the positive cashflow life of a business.
Importantly for Adjudication Submissions, for properly supported relevant documented unpaid payment claims to be recovered at a minimal of time and cost impediments to the claimant's business operations.
Adjudication Consultancy Solutions
The Roman Law maxim 'Ubi Jus Ibi Remedium’ –"Where there is a Right there is a Remedy" is foundational to Australian Common Law. Therefore, initially a debtor needs to be dissuaded from non-payment as a preferable sound commercial decision, as opposed to having to respond to properly supported relevant documented Adjudication Submissions from a contractor, supplier or other claimant.
Subsequently, the claimant must be armed with both a "strong shield" to fend off the ever increasing engineered offset losses from debtors, and with a "sharp sword" as a deterrent to strike balance for equitable consideration, if or when required.
Adjudication Consultancy offered Coefficiently with clients, is to enable Pragmatic Proactive Solutions to counter non-payment risk and losses in the first instance, or otherwise to maximise then recover unpaid payment claims with properly made relevant support for Adjudication Submissions and Debt Recovery Negotiation.
Thereafter, to implement enforcements of Adjudicated Amounts, or alternatively as a last resort, providing timely economical Litigation Support to the client's legal consultants to expedite strategic debt recovery.
Above all, I Anthony Zarro – Director, offer the commitment to all clients as laid down enduringly by Winston S. Churchill to all quantity surveyors and adjudication consultants, as follows: