Contractor-side commercial & claims advisory · UAE · GCC · UK
Senior commercial and claims leadership for infrastructure contractors.
FIDIC entitlement. NEC discipline. Contractor-side execution.
Contractor-side support for FIDIC and NEC projects — from tender risk and live project control to claims, final account and dispute support. Founder-led senior judgment, brought in before entitlement is lost, and able to work alongside your lawyers, planners and experts if a matter escalates.
Stop losing entitlement through weak notices, poor records and unmanaged change.
When contractors call
Most disputes are lost before they become disputes.
The position is usually decided long before anyone files anything — in the notices, the records, the programme and the change control. If any of these is live on your project, the time to get a senior view is now.
What we do
Senior commercial leadership across the life of the project.
Focused on infrastructure (rail, water, flood defence and utilities) across the UAE, GCC and UK. Delivered day-rate, fixed-fee, or retained.
Pre-contract risk review
Price the risk before you sign. Contract review, tender risk, BoQ and qualifications — so you do not carry exposure you never priced.
Pre-contract risk review →Live project commercial control
A senior commercial lead embedded while you build: notices on time, records that stand up, the programme current, change captured and valued.
Live project control →Claims, final account & dispute support
EOT, variation valuation, final account and quantum — structured for negotiation, DAAB, adjudication or arbitration, alongside your lawyers.
Claims & disputes →Training
Practitioner-led FIDIC, NEC and commercial training for your team — a by-product of the live recovery work, not a syllabus.
Training courses →What we don’t do: we don’t provide legal advice or replace your legal team. We work alongside construction lawyers, leading the commercial, contract-administration and quantum position.
Why Hardcastle
You do not need a giant consultancy for every problem.
You need the right senior judgment at the right time — the person other people would put on your problem, on it directly.
Founder-led senior judgment
Direct senior input. No junior hand-off. You deal with the person you thought you were hiring. Specialist associates — planners, delay analysts, quantum experts, legal counsel — are brought in where the matter needs them; the senior judgment on your project stays constant.
A contractor-side operator, not a career claims consultant
Twelve years running the commercial function from inside contractors, not writing reports after the dispute. Most disputes are lost before they become disputes — the position is built while the facts are still alive: notices, records, programme logic, valuation and entitlement narrative.
FIDIC entitlement. NEC discipline.
The Gulf is FIDIC-heavy, but most project failures are governance failures: weak notices, poor records, unmaintained programmes, unclear change control. NEC discipline — early warning, programme logic, compensation-event thinking, evidence — brought into FIDIC and bespoke environments.
Senior input before it becomes an expensive dispute
The commercial position is won in the file, not in the hearing room. The earlier we engage, the more recovery is usually still available. Get control before the file becomes archaeology — and before lawyers and experts cost a fortune.
Fit
Who this is for — and who it is not.
Straight about where senior commercial input earns its fee, and where it does not.
✓ Best fit
- ◆Infrastructure contractors and specialist subcontractors
- ◆Contractor-side commercial teams that need senior reinforcement
- ◆Consultants and engineers needing commercial support
- ◆Legal teams needing the commercial, quantum and project-record position built
- ◆Live projects under FIDIC, NEC, ICC, JCT or bespoke forms
- ◆Projects where notices, records, valuation, programme or final account strategy matter
× Not the right fit
- ×Domestic or residential building disputes
- ×Very low-value payment arguments where advice would cost more than the recovery
- ×Pure legal opinions (that is your lawyer’s role, not ours)
- ×Pure expert-witness appointments needing an independent testifying expert, unless one is separately appointed
- ×Cheap, measurement-only QS support
Experience · Commercial scenarios
Representative commercial scenarios.
Representative scenarios based on real contractor-side commercial issues. Details are combined and anonymised to protect confidentiality. Figures are indicative and used to show the commercial mechanics.
A Sub-Clause 20.2.1 Notice issued on hour 47 of a 48-hour window.
Recovering roughly 85% of a low seven-figure claim that sat 48 hours from time-bar.
The clause 50.3 retention threat, reversed.
Reversing a clause 50.3 retention threat and recovering a low seven-figure CE settlement after a four-week programme reset.
Sixty-eight open items at PC. Closed in ninety days.
Closing 68 open items and recovering 88% of final account value, against a 65-70% benchmark without structured close-out.
Contract-form fluency
FIDIC, NEC, ICC, JCT and bespoke. Operator-level depth across every major form.
FIDIC Red, Yellow, Silver and Emerald (1999, 2017 and 2019 editions). NEC3 and NEC4 across Options A, C and E. ICC. JCT. Bespoke main-contract and subcontract forms. Disciplined notice administration, programme-tied claims, target-cost commercial governance and dispute-mechanism strategy: the procedural rhythms that decide commercial outcomes on every major contract form used across the UAE, GCC and UK.
What clients say
In their words.
Real client outcomes, attributed by role to preserve confidentiality.
Hardcastle Advisory Group led our contract dispute under NEC3 terms. We went from a position of being paid 0 to a 7-figure settlement. Amazing.
Under a FIDIC-based contract, we were heading into almost certain arbitration with our main contractor. After commissioning HAG, we understood our actual position under the contract, HAG advised the contractor where they believed they were, and then negotiated an amicable resolution.
Hardcastle Advisory Group advised us at pre-contract stage on a bespoke contract, setting us up and negotiating the contract. This advice has then continued throughout the project. We would be lost on this contract without this advice.
Productised entry point
48-Hour Contract Risk Review.
One-page senior commercial-risk summary before you bid, sign or commit. Send the contract; get back a ranked, plain-English read on where the risk sits — inside 48 working hours. Built for contractors where one bad clause can cost six or seven figures.
- ◆ AED 5,000, fixed fee
- ◆ 48-hour turnaround
- ◆ One page, no padding
The five things you get back: the top commercial-risk exposures ranked; the Particular Conditions that shift the balance; the notice regime and time bars; how the contract values your change; and the specific points to negotiate before signing.
How engagement works
Direct, commercial, and built to move fast.
From first call to resolution. No layers, no hand-off — specialists are brought in only where the matter needs them.
Confidential triage call
A short, no-obligation conversation. You describe the project or the issue; I give an honest view on whether and how I can help.
Conflict check / NDA
A conflict check before anything is shared, and an NDA on your template where helpful.
File and contract review
The contract, the correspondence, the programme and the records — read as an operational and commercial position, not just a legal document.
Commercial position paper
A clear written view: where you stand, what is recoverable, what is exposed, and where the leverage is.
Action plan
The route: notices, records, valuation, programme, negotiation or claim strategy — prioritised and sequenced.
Implementation support
Hands-on delivery: drafting, negotiation, and dispute support through to resolution.
Specialists brought in where needed
Legal, delay, planning or quantum specialists introduced and coordinated where the matter requires them.
Free tool
Notice of Claim health check
10 questions, ~3 minutes. Scored against FIDIC 20.1 and NEC compensation-event practice.
Take the check →Quarterly Risk Brief
Gulf Infrastructure Commercial Risk Brief
A four-page quarterly brief on commercial-risk and dispute trends across UAE, GCC and UK infrastructure. Free.
See the brief →Capability statement
Services, sectors and engagement models
A concise PDF summary for sharing internally or with a client.
Download PDF ↓Founder-led
Led by Craig Hardcastle.
- Experience
- Twelve years
- Contracts
- FIDIC, NEC3/4, ICC, JCT, Bespoke
- Sectors
- Rail, Water, Flood Defence, Utilities
- Disputes
- DAAB, Adjudication, Arbitration support
- Based
- Dubai & UK
Craig is a senior commercial professional with twelve years on major infrastructure: rail systems exceeding £500m; a £300m strategic water programme under an NEC3 alliance; and a portfolio of flood defence and flood alleviation schemes under NEC3 target cost. Founded Hardcastle Advisory Group in Dubai in 2025 to bring that depth into the Gulf market.
That background runs across NEC3/4, ICC, JCT, FIDIC and bespoke forms. The result is a practical, evidence-led view of what wins a claim and what falls apart on scrutiny — drawn from running the commercial function from the inside, not advising on it from the outside.
Every engagement is founder-led: direct senior input, no junior hand-off. Specialist planners, delay analysts, quantum experts and construction lawyers are brought in where a matter requires them. Based in Meydan Free Zone, Dubai, with UK operations via Quest Commercial Ltd.
Insights
Perspectives on contracts, claims and commercial risk.
Final account close-out: three patterns that recover materially more
Final account is where contractors quietly lose the value they built up over delivery. Three patterns that consistently recover more: start before practical completion, close items in real time, and present the account as a structured commercial position.
Read article →Programme is the contract: why your NEC Accepted Programme decides every claim
Under NEC, the Accepted Programme is a contract document, not a planning artefact. The absence of a current one quietly destroys most contractors’ ability to recover on compensation events, and exposes a quarter of monthly PWDD to retention under clause 50.3.
Read article →FIDIC Sub-Clause 20.1: the notice that decides every claim
Sub-Clause 20.1 of the FIDIC 2017 forms is the single most consequential clause for contractors. Miss the 28-day window and the entitlement is gone. A field guide to what the clause requires, where contractors fail, and what wins a notice.
Read article →Monthly insights
Short notes, sent on the first of each month.
One email a month. Contract mechanics, dispute trends, and commercial-risk observations from across the work. Quarterly briefs included. No spam, unsubscribe any time.
How we work
Common questions, answered straight.
How does the first call work? +
Do you provide legal advice, or replace our lawyers? +
How do you scope and price engagements? +
How quickly can you mobilise? +
Do you act for contractors only, or both sides? +
Which contract forms are you experienced in? +
Is everything confidential? +
Get in touch
Speak to Craig.
Whether you’re pricing a tender, holding the line on a live project, or facing a dispute, reach out for a confidential, no-obligation conversation. Send the issue and you’ll get an honest view within one working day.
Meydan Grandstand, 6th Floor, Meydan Road, Nad Al Sheba, Dubai, U.A.E.