Kerbs you laid twice
You finished the kerbs and binder course on the estate road months ago. Since then scaffold wagons, brick deliveries and a telehandler have been up and down it. Kerbs are knocked out of line, a gully grate is cracked, a manhole cover is broken, and a length of foul drain is blocked with mortar and plaster washings. The housebuilder wants it all put right before the road adoption inspection.
Your gang does the work. When you ask to be paid for it, the housebuilder's site manager says it could have been your own plant, and anyway nobody told him at the time.
Why damage by others is so hard to recharge
The finished condition of your work is rarely recorded, so there is nothing to compare the damage with. Damage is found days or weeks after it happened, by which time the culprit could be anyone. Your gangers mention it to the site manager in passing, and the conversation is never written down. When the repair is done, the time and materials are lost in the day's other work.
- Finished work is not photographed on completion.
- Damage is reported verbally, if at all.
- Repairs are done without a record of time and materials.
- Recharges are raised long after, with no evidence.
- The main contractor cannot pass on a charge they cannot support.
What unrecovered damage costs
Your gangs spend time repairing work you were already paid for once, and the cost comes out of your margin. On a long housing site the total over the life of the job can be large. Disputes about damage sour relationships with the site team you need to keep on side. And repairs rushed just before an adoption inspection disrupt the gangs you had planned for other work.
The damage log we build
- When a section of work is finished, such as a length of kerbs, a road, a run of drainage or a set of manholes, the ganger photographs it on a phone, tagged with location and date. That is the handed-over condition.
- Where drains are finished, a CCTV survey or a simple test result can be filed against the run as evidence of their state.
- When damage is found, anyone on your team logs it with located photos, a description and, where known, the cause, such as a delivery wagon or another trade's waste.
- The housebuilder's or main contractor's site manager is notified the same day by email with the photos, so they hear about it while it can still be investigated.
- Repairs are recorded with gang time, plant and materials, and after photos.
- A recharge pack for each item or each month shows the finished condition, the damage, the notification and the repair cost at your agreed rates.
- A running view shows damage by site, by cause and by recovered or not recovered.
| Item | Finished condition | Damage logged | Recharge |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kerbs, plots 20 to 26 | Photographed on completion | Kerbs pushed out, wagon tracks | Pack sent, agreed |
| Manhole cover, road B | Photographed on completion | Cover cracked | Pack sent, queried |
| Foul run F4 to F5 | CCTV survey on completion | Blocked with mortar | Pack sent, agreed |
Whether a recharge is accepted depends on your subcontract and the main contractor's arrangements with other trades. We give you the evidence and the paperwork; the decision is theirs and yours.
Evidence at the moment it matters
The site manager hears about damage the day it is found, with photos, when they still have a chance to find out who caused it. Every recharge comes with a before, an after and a cost. Your contracts manager can see how much damage-by-others is costing on each site, and raise it with the main contractor as a pattern rather than one item at a time. Gangs stop redoing work for nothing.
The same finished-condition photos also help at adoption inspections, because they show the work was right when you left it.
Are you repairing other trades' damage for free?
- Your kerbs, covers or drains are damaged after you finish.
- You do not photograph finished work before others use it.
- Damage is reported verbally, if at all.
- Recharges are refused because there is no evidence.
- Repairs pile up just before adoption inspections.