Legal Developments In Construction Law: October 2015

Keywords: construction contract, adjudication award

1. The work is done but does that mean there was a contract?

A construction contract may not need to be in writing but there still needs to be a contract. Working out whether there was an oral contract may not be easy but does the fact that the works have been carried out help? A subcontractor carried out works at the Dorchester Hotel and the main contractor made a number of payments but, when the subcontractor submitted its final account, the contractor failed to respond with a pay less notice and the subcontractor obtained an adjudication award in its favour. The main contractor claimed, however, that there was no concluded contract and that the adjudicator consequently had no jurisdiction to decide the dispute.