It can never be unjust to be paid what your work is worth

Justice Dawson said this some 25 years ago in the NSW Minister for Works' application to the High Court seeking permission to appeal a fair value award in favour of construction contractor, Renard Constructions (ME) Pty Ltd. In Sunwater Ltd v Drake Cole Ltd and another ("Sunwater"), the Queensland Court of Appeal ("QCA") affirmed that, 25 years later, this principle still holds true.

In Sunwater, a construction contractor sought payment of the fair value (quantum meruit) of its work, where:

1. the owner had asked the contractor to do that work;
2. when requesting that work, the owner knew that the contractor expected to be paid for it (which was implied in the commercial relationship between owner and contractor); and