Construction claims are won on records. Programme data, site instructions, notices, progress photographs and measured valuations decide these disputes, and the party with the better record almost always prevails regardless of the underlying merits.
Dubai Legal Expert acts for employers, contractors, subcontractors and consultants in construction disputes across the UAE, covering delay, variations, defects, payment and decennial liability claims.
The four recurring categories are extension of time and prolongation claims, disputes over instructed variations and their valuation, defective works and remedial cost, and non payment against certified or claimed amounts.
Each turns on contract mechanics as much as on fact. Notice provisions, condition precedent clauses, the certification process and the role of the engineer determine what can be recovered, frequently before the technical merits are examined at all.
Extension of time, disruption and prolongation cost claims supported by programme analysis.
Claims over instructed and constructive variations, measurement and valuation of additional work.
Claims for defective work and remedial cost, including structural defects under decennial liability.
Disputes over certified amounts, withheld payment, retention release and final account.
Claims arising from termination of a contractor or consultant and its consequences.
Delay claims built on critical path analysis, since extension of time is decided on the programme evidence.
Notices and condition precedent provisions checked first, because these defeat many otherwise valid claims.
Quantity surveying evidence supporting variation and final account claims item by item.
Structural defect claims against contractors and supervising engineers within the statutory liability period.
Whether the claim proceeds through arbitration, the courts or a contractual determination step.
Withheld certified sums, retention and final account balances pursued through the appropriate route.
A contractor with a genuine six month delay caused entirely by the employer can recover nothing if notice was not given in the form and within the period the contract requires, particularly where notice is expressed as a condition precedent.
For that reason our first review on any construction file is procedural rather than technical. We check every notice, instruction and certification against the contract before assessing the merits, because that analysis determines what is realistically recoverable.
Check the contract mechanics, build the technical case, then pursue it in the right forum.
The contract, notices, instructions, certificates and correspondence are reviewed against the mechanics.
We establish whether arbitration, the courts or a contractual determination step applies.
Programme analysis, quantity surveying and engineering inspection are commissioned as required.
The claim is prepared item by item with the technical evidence integrated into the submissions.
The claim is pursued through arbitration or the courts with full representation at hearings.
The award or judgment is enforced, including against retention, bonds and guarantees.
A claim for additional time where delay was caused by matters at the employer risk, supported by programme evidence showing the effect on the critical path.
A contractual requirement to give notice within a set period as a precondition to entitlement, and missing it can defeat an otherwise valid claim.
UAE law imposes liability on contractors and supervising engineers for structural defects for a period of ten years from handover, subject to the statutory conditions.
Under the contract valuation mechanism, usually with measured quantities and rates, and disputes are supported by quantity surveying evidence.
Many major construction contracts in the UAE provide for arbitration, often after an engineer determination or amicable settlement step.
Yes, subject to the contract release mechanism, and withheld retention is a common component of final account claims.
Send us the contract and the notices and we will assess what is realistically recoverable. The first consultation is free.
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