The property
A period house in north west London requiring internal and external structural repairs and redecoration, occupied by a private owner throughout.
The brief
The owner needed the repairs properly specified, competitively priced and professionally supervised, with the confidence that whatever the works uncovered would be dealt with transparently and paid for at fair rates. Avalon was appointed as Contract Administrator and Principal Designer under CDM 2015, and instructed to prepare a specification of works for tender.
Tender and selection
- TenderedThe specification issued to four contractors; three priced returns came back.
- NormalisedEach return arithmetically checked and normalised to a common basis with a full crosscast, item against item.
- WeighedPrice, qualification, accuracy, lead time and duration weighed together; the lowest return was also unqualified and error free.
- Appointed safelyRecommended subject to the CDM 2015 requirements, including a construction phase plan and method statements, before appointment.
The RICS guidance
Contract administration is covered by the RICS Black Book, including Valuing change, which is how each change the opened-up fabric revealed was priced and approved before it was carried out, with the works let on a JCT standard form.
The owner went to contract at around £33,000 knowing exactly what was and was not included.
Administering the works
Structural repair is discovery led: opening up the fabric reveals the true condition, and the scope moves. That is precisely when a contract administrator earns their fee. As the works progressed, additional repairs were instructed where the opened structure required them, and each variation was valued at contract rates, documented and reported, so the owner approved every change in cost before it happened. Seven interim valuations were issued and certified across the contract.
The owner approved every change in cost before it happened, rather than discovering it at the end.
The outcome
The owner received a structurally repaired, redecorated property and a complete paper trail: specification, tender analysis, contract, valuations, variation record and final account.
Read more about our Major Works, Managed service, available as contract administration on its own.
