All articles by Rudi Klein – Page 4
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CommentOFT special: Our game
One strange feature of the we play it is that clients pay £10bn a year to cut costs – and encourage incompetent contractors to muck up their schemes. Time to change the rules
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CommentAll for one: The OGC's contract decision
Tony Bingham claims the Office of Government Commerce was wrong to endorse the NEC3 contract over others, but in reality this is just the standardisation he was seeking
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CommentI beg to differ: Response to Rupert Choat on the Construction Act
Rupert Choat has many useful things to say about the proposed amendments to the Construction Act. But in his criticism of payment security, he’s just plain wrong
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CommentPayment times: 10 days seems a lifetime away
The government says its suppliers will be paid within 10 days, but it still has an awful lot of work to do to stamp out payment abuse in the public sector
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CommentA grave omission: Adjudicators decisions
The Construction Act needs to make clear that when an adjudicator tells a party to pay out, that decision should be enforced even if counterclaims are made
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CommentRomania: land of opportunity
Europe’s fastest growing economy is an excellent place to seek refuge from Britain’s wintery economy. So, here’s a quick guide to the legal landscape
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Comment
The villains of the piece
Rudi Klein So should the 112 firms accused by the OFT be hung, drawn and quartered? Or were there some mitigating circumstances …
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CommentThe year of living dangerously
It’s been almost a year since the CDM regulations were revised. So, anything to celebrate? Over the next four pages we focus on all things health and safety – starting with three areas where the revised regs can make a difference
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CommentFair payment charter: Declaring peace
Last year the Office of Government Commerce launched its Guide to Best Fair Payment Practices. It came into force on 1 January this year and applies to all public sector works contracts.
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CommentThe £40,000 fix
Here’s a chilling tale from the year gone by. It’s about what happened when a subcontractor on a fixed-price contract was asked not to do some of the work it tendered for – but had to be paid for it all the same
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CommentAnn is in cloud-cuckoo-land
Ann Minogue wrote here that my criticism of Network Rail was unfair. But she is living in a fantasy world where there are still adversarial tools and penalties rather than teamworking and shared risk
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CommentKnow who your friends are
Partnering is either about trust and transparency or it’s about two parties shafting each other. Rudi Klein offers a handy quiz that should help you find out which one you’re dealing with
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CommentAllow me to present your bill
The Construction Act consultation has acknowledged that companies need payment certainty, but it is not tackling the surreal arrangement whereby the payer decides what the payee is owed
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CommentNew dawn fades
The Labour era that began with such a burst of energy and optimism quickly succumbed to administrative entropy
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CommentWhat a mess!
Adjudication is being turned into an expensive and inefficient process by the proliferation of home-made procedures. So why isn’t the DTI doing something to stamp them out?
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CommentCompetence is the key
Meeting different regulatory requirements is a nightmare for plumbers and a serious problem for everyone else in the construction industry. But there is a better way.
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CommentDo we have to pay up?
LEGAL AID - A contractor has withheld £18k and is claiming a further £60k from the subbie because the project did not meet practical completion. Is there any way to dismiss the claim?
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CommentFloored by a contract
A contractor has withheld £250k from a flooring firm and told it the contract states it has to arbitrate directly with the client. How can it best recover the money it is owed?
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CommentThe victims of crime
When £20,000 worth of windows was stolen from a site, the contractor was landed with a six-week delay. So was the delay subject to an extension of time? If not, who was going to pay for the knock-on costs? Our panel of experts ponder the options…
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CommentAn idiot’s guide to being an idiot
Rudi Klein Novation transfers the risk of design liability to those who may have had precious little to do with the design. How smart is that?