I was called because the client was unhappy about air-conditioning system she was getting in her new commercial development. When I inspected the job and looked at the documentation it was a revelation.
Building contract administration “sounds so boring”, it is until you start looking at the figures and realise “I grabbed the tiger by the tail! ”
The project documentation and the contract administration was woeful and unbefitting professional civil engineer who was the builder. As qualified quantity surveyor and experienced commercial building contract administrator I worked through the issues and found out that my client was overcharged by about $250,000. On top of that my inspections identified numerous building defects, non compliance with BCA, the contract and the planning permit conditions. One of the items of overcharge was a contingency sum of $ 50,000 which is the money in the contract belonging to the owner and not the builder. Builder simply appropriated it as if it was his, $50,000 is not much when you say it quick. In other cases items that were included in the building contract were double claimed under provisional sums as well or as fresh variations.
Numerous inspections and conferences followed and I guided my client to successful completion and in the end she still saved around $250,000
My asian client had signed a building contract in excess of $ 1.5M without full understanding and without professional help.
In this case she picked up the phone and was lucky to get the right person to look after her. I have since assisted her on her other developments.
