CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT | BUILDING & INFRASTRUCTURE WORKS
Construction Dispute Resolution — The UK's Specialist Partner for Subcontractors and Specialists
If you're a subcontractor or specialist contractor fighting for payment you're owed, you don't need a lecture on contract law, you need your cash. Late payment, unfair deductions, and disputed contra-charges drain the cash flow that keeps your business running, and every week they go unresolved is a week of lost profit and wasted management time.
RJH Consulting is the UK's specialist construction dispute resolution partner for subcontractors and specialists. We combine hands-on quantity surveying experience with construction law expertise to resolve payment and contractual disputes fast and get your money moving again.
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What Is Construction Dispute Resolution?
Construction dispute resolution is the process of resolving disagreements between contracting parties most commonly a subcontractor and a main contractor over payment, contract performance, delay, or defects, without the cost and delay of full court litigation.
In UK construction, most disputes are resolved through one (or a combination) of four routes: negotiation, mediation, adjudication, and formal claims. The right route depends on the size of the dispute, the urgency of your cash flow position, and what the underlying contract allows. Statutory adjudication a right under the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996, is often the fastest way for subcontractors to force a binding decision and unlock withheld payment, typically within 28 days.
The Methods We Use
1. Negotiation
Most disputes shouldn't need a third party at all. We open direct, evidence-backed negotiation with the main contractor on your behalf, using our contractual expertise to challenge unjustified deductions before they escalate.
2. Mediation
Where negotiation stalls but litigation isn't proportionate, mediation gives both parties a structured, confidential route to a commercial settlement, usually faster and cheaper than adjudication or court.
3. Adjudication
Our core strength. We've represented subcontractors in over 200 adjudications and won the vast majority. Adjudication gives you a binding decision the main contractor is legally required to pay, usually within 28 days — the fastest way to convert a dispute into cash in your bank.
4. Claims preparation
Where you're owed money for delay, disruption, or additional work, we build a fully evidenced claim that stands up to scrutiny, protecting your entitlement rather than leaving it to be argued away.
Start The Process
Disputes We Resolve
We regularly resolve the disputes that hit subcontractors hardest:
- Non-payment and late payment of valid applications
- Retention release disputes
- Unjustified contra-charges — we have a 95%+ track record overturning them
- Loss and expense claims for delay and disruption
- Extensions of time (EOT) disputes
- Liquidated damages (LDs) wrongly applied or disputed
- Defects and rectification cost disagreements
- Damages for breach of contract
If any of these sound familiar, you're not alone and you don't have to accept them.
Why Choose Consultants Over Solicitors?
Construction law firms understand the legal framework but many have never priced a variation, valued a final account, or sat across the table from a main contractor's QS. That gap matters.
RJH consultants bring both: professional qualifications in construction law, quantity surveying and construction management, and decades of practical, on-the-tools experience including over 20 years on the main contractor side of the fence, so we know exactly how they think and where they're vulnerable. That means faster, more commercially realistic advice, at a fraction of solicitor rates, with fee options including fixed fee and no-win-no-fee arrangements subject to case review.
For disputes that do need formal legal proceedings beyond adjudication, we'll tell you plainly, we never suggest your case is stronger than it is. But for the vast majority of subcontractor payment and contractual disputes, a specialist consultant gets you to resolution faster, at lower cost, with a better understanding of how the industry actually works.
Our 4-Step Process
Free Strategy Session
A no-obligation consultation to understand your dispute and your objectives.
Review & Advice
We review your documentation, assess the strengths and weaknesses of your case honestly, and agree a strategy with you.
The Unfair Advantage
We set out your entitlement directly to the main contractor in correspondence, with a clear deadline for resolution — using our contractual expertise to apply real pressure.
The Power of Adjudication
If they still won't settle fairly, we prepare and run the adjudication for you, securing a binding decision they're legally required to pay.
Over 18 years, we've represented 250+ subcontractors across the UK, with a 95%+ track record overturning contra-charges and consistent success in adjudication.
Start The Process
Free Strategy Session
Every week a dispute stays unresolved is cash that isn't in your account. Book a free, no-obligation strategy session with RJH Consulting and find out exactly where you stand — and how fast we can move.
Richard Mole
Arthur Wilby
David Cook
"Our goal is to ensure that you obtain the building work that you want, on time and within budget, without suffering any adverse impact on your business."
- You don’t really understand the construction process and worry about getting it wrong
- You fear that costs for your project might exceed your budget or spiral out of control
- You’re concerned about poor quality work, ‘cowboy builders’, and ultimately not getting the facility which your organisation needs
- You worry there could be an adverse impact on your existing business
- The regulations, red-tape, and risks involved seem like insurmountable barriers
- Design of your construction project (via the selection and appointment of appropriate professionals)
- Planning Permission, Building Regulations, and CDM Regulations
- Quantity Surveying - Costing of the proposed construction works and Cost Management throughout the design and construction processes
- Drawing up Tender documents and obtaining competitive tenders from suitably qualified Contractors
- Advising on and drafting Contracts for the Construction works and for design Consultants.
- Project or Construction Management during the construction phase
- Employer’s Agent role
- Principal Designer role
- Value Engineering
The Risks and Pitfalls Associated With Your Construction Project, And How To Overcome Them
- How to navigate the various application, approval and sign‐off processes at the relevant stages of your project.
- Who to turn to for help when it comes to cost planning a project.
- What you need to know to draw up a water-tight contract.
- How to cover yourself when it comes to rectifying defects.