Final account recovery on a rail infrastructure project
A civil contractor completed a metro civils package with significant unresolved variations and claims. The internal team lacked capacity to build the final account under time pressure. Ashforte assembled the account, negotiated close-out and unlocked retention.
The situation
The project had reached practical completion 11 months late. A partial EOT had been granted but the associated prolongation, disruption and variation packages had not been consolidated into a coherent final account.
Retention (approximately USD 12M) was being held pending resolution. The Employer's Representative had issued a draft final account materially below the contractor's records, and the internal commercial team had been unable to close the gap through prior negotiation.
The contractor's commercial director engaged Ashforte to build the final account from the existing record base and drive close-out negotiations to release retention.
Ashforte's intervention
The engagement was structured around the following workstreams, delivered by a senior-led team operating to Ashforte's standardized delivery protocols.
Account assembly
- Contract sum reconciliation against as-built quantities
- Consolidation of prior EOT, prolongation and disruption entitlement
- Variation register audit and pricing consolidation
- Set-off and deduction analysis
Substantiation
- Cost record consolidation for time-related items
- Correspondence chain reconstruction for variation entitlement
- Cause-and-effect narratives for prolongation events
- Evidence pack organisation for negotiation
Negotiation
- Response to Employer's Representative draft final account
- Position paper on contested items
- Without-prejudice discussions across five sessions
- Escalation triggers documented if settlement failed
The result
Final account settlement reached approximately 78% of the contractor's submission value — a material improvement on the Employer's Representative's opening position.
Retention released in full within 90 days of settlement.
The contractor engaged Ashforte on a Portfolio Retainer to prevent recurrence — with particular focus on running variation and change control discipline continuously across live projects rather than consolidating at close-out.
Lessons
The lessons from an engagement are usually more transferable than the specific results. What Ashforte's clients typically take away from case studies like this one:
Final accounts assembled retrospectively under time pressure lose value that continuously-maintained records would have preserved. The 22% gap between the submission and the settlement was largely attributable to record-base weaknesses rather than positional disagreement.
78% recovery was the right outcome given the record base — but the record base was the constraint, not the negotiation.
The Portfolio Retainer that followed was specifically structured to run change control and variation discipline continuously — so that the next project's final account is a consolidation exercise, not an assembly exercise.
This engagement sat within Claims & Dispute Support.
Entitlement identified early. Claims built on evidence. Defence positions ready before they're needed.
Explore Claims & DisputesInitial Commercial Risk Assessment
By invitation, Ashforte provides qualified contractors with an initial commercial risk assessment on one live project. A structured senior review of contract, claims and commercial-control exposure, delivered as a documented briefing with a 30-day action plan. Qualification is determined in the first conversation.
A structured review of one live project — offered by invitation, at no cost, to qualified contractors.
Request an initial assessment- 01Review of selected project documents (contract, correspondence, variations, programme)
- 02Identification of key contract and commercial risk exposures
- 03Short maturity assessment across notices, variations, claims and payment controls
- 04A practical 30-day action plan
- 05Findings call with the project or commercial lead
- Contractors with active commercial pressure on a live project
- Variation or claims exposure requiring senior review
- Payment or certification issues affecting cash
- Stretched commercial teams needing external senior view
- Final account or close-out situations
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Prolongation and disruption quantum on an airport buildings package
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Defence against an employer-issued LD notice on a healthcare build
A buildings contractor received a LD notice of USD 8.5M on a hospital project completed six months late. Ashforte built the defence position, quantified concurrent-cause exposure and negotiated a settled resolution.