02 / Live project control
Senior commercial control on a live project, before the position is lost.
Most disputes are lost before they become disputes — in weak notices, thin records, a programme that has drifted out of date, and change that gets instructed but never valued. A senior contractor-side commercial lead embedded into the live project holds the line while you build: notices on time, records that stand up, the programme current, change captured and priced, and entitlement tied to evidence as it happens.
“The commercial position is won in the file, not in the hearing room. Get control before the file becomes archaeology.”
The earlier we engage, the more recovery is usually still available. Once a notice window has closed, a record has gone cold, or a programme has lapsed, the cost of recovering the position multiplies — and some of it cannot be recovered at any price. Live commercial control is the cheapest insurance on a major project.
Early warning and notice discipline
Every instruction, event and risk logged on the day it arrives, and compliant notices issued inside the contract windows — FIDIC Sub-Clause 20.2 claims notices, NEC early warnings and compensation-event notifications. The most reliable source of lost entitlement is the hand-off between engineering and commercial: a standing rule that any instruction, however it is labelled, is logged for awareness-date purposes the day it lands removes that failure mode.
Records that stand up
Contemporaneous records packaged by event, not reconstructed months later from memory. Each compensation event or variation builds its own file as it happens: the notice, the substantiation, the records, the programme impact and the commercial assessment. This is the difference between a claim that is evidenced and a claim that is asserted.
Programme and change control
The Accepted Programme kept current under NEC, the change pipeline run to closure under any form. Variations instructed but not valued, compensation events drifting toward a Project Manager’s self-assessment, an Engineer’s instruction that is substantively a variation — these are caught and converted to entitlement while the facts are still alive, not left to surface at final account.
Valuation, cash and entitlement
Interim valuations, retention and payment positions managed actively, with a running entitlement narrative tied to the records rather than assembled at the end. The commercial story of the project is kept current month by month, so the position is always ready — whether the project settles amicably or escalates.
Monthly commercial control and governance
A senior commercial cadence the project can run to: cost-value reconciliation, risk register, notice register, compensation-event pipeline and cash, reviewed on a fixed rhythm. Set up at the start, this governance is the single biggest determinant of what is recoverable later.
Working alongside your team
We embed alongside your commercial team and project leadership, not over them. Direct senior input. No junior hand-off. Where the work needs specialist planners, delay analysts, quantum experts or legal counsel, we bring them in — but the senior commercial judgment on your project stays constant. We do not provide legal advice; we lead the commercial, contract-administration and quantum position alongside your legal advisers.
How it usually works
Live commercial control runs as embedded day-rate support, a part-time retainer, or a short intensive to stabilise a drifting project and then hand control back to your team with the governance in place. Scope and price are agreed up front in writing. Every engagement starts with a confidential 30-minute call to scope the work and confirm there is no conflict.
Is a project drifting commercially?
If notices are being missed, the programme is weak, or change is going unvalued, the time to get a senior view on the file is now — not at final account.
Book a confidential call