Contractor-side commercial and claims advisory
They are lost in the notice nobody sent, the records nobody kept, and the programme that stopped being updated in month four. By the time a claim is drafted, the file has already decided most of it.
Hardcastle Advisory Group is senior, contractor-side commercial leadership on FIDIC and NEC projects across the UAE, GCC and UK. Founder-led, working with your lawyers rather than in place of them.
Something live today? Call +971 58 547 8969, or download the capability statement.
12years
Contractor-side commercial leadership
£500m+
Of programmes led
4families
FIDIC, NEC, ICC, JCT and bespoke
48hours
To a ranked contract-risk read
Why contractors call
Every one of these is recoverable, and every one gets harder and more expensive the longer it runs.
The practice
Infrastructure work: rail and systems, water, flood defence, utilities. Delivered on a day rate, a fixed fee, or a retainer.
Pre-contract risk review
A senior read of the contract, the tender risk, the Bill of Quantities and the qualifications before you commit, so you do not end up carrying exposure that was never in the number.
02Live project commercial control
A senior commercial lead embedded while you build: notices on time, records that stand up later, the programme current, change captured and valued as it happens.
03Claims, final account and disputes
Delay, variation valuation, final account and quantum, built into a case that holds together for negotiation, DAAB, adjudication or arbitration, alongside your lawyers.
04Training
FIDIC, NEC and commercial training built out of live recovery work rather than a syllabus. Delivered in house, on the projects your people are actually running.
What we do not do is give legal advice, or replace your legal team. The work is the commercial, contract-administration and quantum position, led alongside construction lawyers.
Fixed fee · AED 5,000
Send the contract before you sign it. Inside 48 working hours you get one page, written by a senior practitioner, ranking where the commercial risk actually sits and what to negotiate before signature.
Worked example
Same project, same instruction, same week. One of these keeps the claim alive and one of them does not, and the difference is not the facts.
What usually gets sent
Hi mate,
Just to flag, the resequencing last week has knocked us about a bit and we are having to shuffle the gangs around. Will probably have a knock-on to the programme but we are doing our best to catch it up.
We may need to look at time and money at some point once we see how it lands. Will keep you posted.
Cheers,
Site team
Time-barred on day 14
What the contract asks for
NOTICE OF CLAIM under Sub-Clause 20.2.1
To the Engineer,
This is a Notice of Claim given under Sub-Clause 20.2.1 of the Conditions of Contract.
The event giving rise to this claim is the instruction to resequence the pump-hall works issued on 7 March, being the date the Contractor became aware. The Contractor considers itself entitled to an extension of the Time for Completion and to additional payment arising from the event.
Contemporary records are being maintained under Sub-Clause 20.2.3 and the fully detailed claim will follow within the period stated in Sub-Clause 20.2.4. All rights are reserved.
For the Contractor
Entitlement preserved
| Sub-Clause 20.2.1 requires | The email | The notice |
|---|---|---|
| Identified as a Notice | absent | Titled "Notice of Claim" |
| Given under the clause | absent | Sub-Clause 20.2.1 cited |
| The event described | absent | Resequencing instruction, 7 March |
| Date of awareness stated | absent | 7 March |
| Relief claimed | absent | Time and additional payment |
| Sent by the contractual route | absent | To the Engineer, ref MJV-ENG-0412 |
Evidence
Clients are named by role rather than by company. Contractor-side commercial work is confidential, and it stays that way.
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.
Founder-led
Twelve years running the commercial function from inside contractors on major infrastructure: rail systems over £500m, a £300m strategic water programme under an NEC3 alliance, and a portfolio of flood defence and alleviation schemes under NEC3 target cost. Hardcastle Advisory Group was founded in Dubai in 2025 to bring that into the Gulf market.
That is an operator's background rather than a claims consultant's. The position gets built while the facts are still alive, in the notices, the records, the programme logic and the valuation, instead of being reconstructed from a cold file two years later.
Every engagement is founder-led. Specialist planners, delay analysts, quantum experts and construction lawyers are brought in where a matter needs them, but you deal with the person you thought you were hiring.
Library
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.
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.
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.
Contract mechanics, dispute trends and what the work is throwing up. Quarterly briefs included. Unsubscribe whenever.
Before the first call
Thirty minutes, confidential, no charge and no obligation. You describe the project or the issue; I give an honest view on whether and how I can help, and what an engagement would look like. Book directly from the booking link, or send the detail through the contact form first if you would rather introduce the problem in writing.
Neither. We do not provide legal advice. We lead the commercial, contract-administration and quantum position alongside your legal advisers. Engaged early, the commercial work often resolves a matter before legal cost escalates. Where it does go formal, your lawyers inherit a case that is already built.
Three structures. Day rate for live, flexible work. Fixed fee for a defined deliverable such as a contract review, a claim, a quantum assessment or a DAAB submission. Monthly retainer for ongoing senior input. The 48-hour contract risk review is a fixed-fee entry point. Scope and price are agreed up front, in writing.
Immediate availability from Dubai for UAE and GCC engagements, and via Quest Commercial Ltd for UK projects. Most engagements start within the same week. For a live commercial crisis, phone or WhatsApp is faster than the form.
Primarily contractor-side, which is where the experience is deepest. The firm also acts for subcontractors, consultants and employers. The only constraint is conflict: we will not act on both sides of the same dispute.
FIDIC Red, Yellow, Silver and Emerald across the 1999, 2017 and 2019 editions. NEC3 and NEC4 under Options A, C and E. ICC. JCT. And the bespoke main-contract and subcontract forms in circulation across the UAE, GCC and UK.
Yes. Every engagement is covered by a confidentiality undertaking before scope is shared, and we will sign an NDA on your template. Most contractor-side work is confidential, which is why no client names or project details appear on this site and the scenarios published here are anonymised.
Start here
Thirty minutes, confidential, no charge. Whether you are pricing a tender, holding the line on a live job, or already in a dispute, you will get an honest view on whether senior commercial input is worth it.