Adjudication from The Builders Lawyer
Every year the end of October brings us back to the monies which are outstanding, and standing in the way
of the early submission of the individual tax return and any rebates or tax refunds.
It is the bad debts which make profits so low that
the bottom line is not as good as it ought to be.
Construction industry suppliers are a special market
niche. As a class they do not generate large single
invoices, but rather sets of invoices in the range
$4,000-9,000. Some clients may have a number of
invoices on different jobs or parts of jobs at any one
time.
It is easy for invoices in these ranges to get out
of control unless your business is big enough to
employ a full time financial controller. It is even
easier for the costs of collecting debts like these to
outweigh the legal fees involved. We think a new
legislative scheme called in short the Security of
Payment Act may provide us with effective tools to
help you solve this kind of problem.
Non-lawyer collection agents, or lawyers without construction industry experience and know-how may not
be as effective as you would wish, and their rates are too high (bearing in mind the general recovery rate).
And some Local Courts cannot make sense of brief, short references on an invoice to quantities and delivery
codes. Adjudicators are generally construction people who have had additional training in resolving disputes
in all the construction industries (except mining and ports).
So, we write - as well known construction lawyers - to introduce a new level of service for suppliers to the
building and construction industries.
Our proposal is that we try to retrieve amounts owing under your accounts on a conditional basis. If we
obtain a court judgment (with or without an order for costs), in your favour ("success") we will charge you
the low blended fee rate of $150 per hour for the time spent in preparation and arguing your case plus such
things as photocopying, record searching and disbursements.
You should remember that just because you have a judgment doesn't mean that you will ultimately receive
any money since your debtor may be insolvent, or vanish. But if your client does have funds, and the judgment
remains unpaid, you can wind the company up. Although the winding up procedure as with other
collection choices after judgement will cost more money in legal fees.
If we are not successful in obtaining a judgment, you will only have paid the expenses of our efforts not our
fees. Thus things like court or adjudicator's fees, photocopying, searching and process serving fees you will
still have to pay. No legal fees will be charged. We can receive much of your instructions by mail or email
without a need for you to leave your chair.
Some conditions apply relating to prompt payment of our fees. You might like to check out our website at
www.tbl.nu.
For further information contact:
The Builders Lawyer
phone: 1800 688 529
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