Independently valuing a PQS’s interim payment certificate

We were instructed by a national and international law firm, with a large construction law team, on behalf of their developer client, who had entered a contract with a main contractor. During the construction of a student residential building, the main contractor entered administration resulting in termination of the contract.

The developer had employed the services of a professional quantity surveying (PQS) firm who had prepared an interim certificate and the developer made payment based on that certificate. The developer alleged that the extent of the Work carried out by The Contractor was inconsistent with the PQS’s valuation of the Works.

The work we performed

We were provided with the PQS’s valuation, and the basis upon which that was made, and a report commissioned by the developer to document the extent of the works performed at the date of termination (progress report). We used the information in the progress report and relevant information in the contract (e.g. the contract sum), to make a valuation of the work performed up to the date of termination.

There were some difficulties with valuing the foundations because the work was part completed with some work complete, some in progress with formwork and reinforcement complete, and some where the trench had been dug but nothing more. We attended site to perform a measure using a trundle wheel and tape measure to ascertain the quantities we needed to make a valuation of the substructure works performed.

Once that valuation was completed, we compared this to the PQS’s valuation and established the differences. The PQS’s valuation was based on progress elements which had not been performed and the time-based method of valuing preliminaries meant the valuation was disproportionate to the actual work performed.

Outcome

We delivered our report, compliant with our instructions, one week ahead of the deadline. The report contained an explanation of our valuation and included relevant documents which supported our calculations. This information was used by the developer to negotiate an outcome with the PQS.