Building disputes and claims against tradespeople

Dispute resolution and litigation lawyers in Wimbledon, South West London, Epsom and Surrey

Building works disputes

Building projects come in all shapes and sizes, ranging from informal agreements with tradespeople to large scale developments involving multiple parties and enormous contracts.

What unites them though is that when they go wrong, the ensuing disputes are often complex and intractable. There are various reasons for this:

• the contracts themselves involve the delivery of a variety of both goods and services
• issues over performance for the contract often turn on technical questions that require the involvement of surveyors
• there are often contractual ambiguities for example, what the financial consequences are in the event of delay, or whether parties are subcontractors or not

Often the disputes present emotional and practical difficulties; for example, if a home development project goes wrong it may moving back into the property on time is impossible, causing major disruption.

As a result of their complexity there is a specific pre-action protocol that applies to building disputes which holds the parties to a high standard in terms of explaining and evidencing their arguments, and in trying to resolve the claim without recourse to the Courts.

We advise clients on the full range of options that they have available to resolve the matter. Often building contracts include clauses which, in the event of a dispute, oblige the parties to resolve the matter by arbitration. There are other processes referred to collectively as alternative dispute resolution (ADR) which are also available: adjudication, mediation or straightforward direct negotiation between the parties.