All articles by Rudi Klein 鈥� Page 6
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C'mon everybody
Here are 10 steps to making the world a better place to do business in 鈥� and all can be adopted without converting to Buddhism, becoming celibate or giving up alcohol
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Who's for excellence?
The government has just updated its guidance to its own staff who are involved in procuring buildings. Here's what it says about risk allocation and project team integration
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Defective thinking
What do defects have to do with retentions? Nothing. Zero. Zip. Zilch. Nada. Sweet Fanny Adams. But just you try telling the government that 鈥�
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Who's holding back?
Using adjudication to recover outstanding retentions is likely to lead to a positive result. So it's odd that so few of these disputes end up in the adjudicator's hands
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Being sat on by a hippo
Memo to Nigel Griffiths: More and more small, solvent firms are being squashed by large, insolvent ones. At present they have almost no protection. Time to step in?
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The simple seven
Tinkering with construction's outdated payment practices is not good enough. So here are a few straightforward steps to radically improve the situation
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Roads to freedom
Insurers have the construction industry by the short and curlies, but we can loosen their grip by doing more to manage our risks so we don't have to rely on them
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Dumb or what?
The drive to deliver high-value, high-quality design is being hampered by a class system that prevents architects and engineers from talking to specialists as equals
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Back to basics
What is a construction contract? Oddly enough, we're still struggling with that one 鈥� and as for agreeing what constitutes reasonable remuneration for work, well 鈥�
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Give them their due
The Construction Act's payment provisions are there to promote certainty of payment: nothing should stop the payee from knowing where it stands on pay day
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Pass master
Accelerating Change is a clarion call for risk-sharing. Some hope, when Jarvis and others are busy amending the standard form of subcontract to pass the risk downstream
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What a relief!
Insolvency law in the UK has always been very kind to banks and the crown, and very cruel to unsecured creditors. Now parliament is about redress the balance 鈥�
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Time to let go
Retentions are part of the old-school, adversarial industry culture. They're anachronistic, poor value and bound up with all sorts of shady practices. Let's get rid of them
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Back-to-back basics
No apologies for bringing up a fundamental problem with construction contracts: they don't work very well. In fact, the answer may be to radically change them 鈥�
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The Top Scam Awards
OK, they're not the most prestigious accolades, but the prize ceremony for concocting those ways to wriggle out of the Construction Act can still reduce you to tears
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Protect and survive
Small businesses suffer most from the 'domino effect' of insolvency in the construction industry. Missed opportunities to put things right mean the task is now urgent
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The impossible job
Planning supervisors were supposed to ensure that safety was designed into the construction process. But the regulations that created the role simply don't work
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Follow that kiwi
New Zealand has just published a Construction Contracts Bill that is much like our own Construction Act … but better. Here's how it's going to work
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The cost of winning
Allowing the winning party in an adjudication to recover its costs from the loser is utterly inappropriate in adjudication. Worse, it could deter people from using it
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Cough-up medicine
The Construction Act is really all about making sure people are paid. If money is owed and no withholding notices issued, you'd better pay up first and litigate later