Going to Adjudication with builders - anything I should know? What should I expect?

[LemonDifficult]

Things have gone bad with our building project and now it looks as though we're going to adjudication. Has anyone been through this?

Our contractors have let us down: badly insulated the house so that by some bizarre fluke of physics the whole ground floor is absolutely freezing (literally, a dog bowl froze on it); lots of stuff left undone; a massive recent valuation put in for more than £20K over what we and the Quantity Surveyor think it should be; no dpc or protection of any kind around new windows; and so on.

So after letters back and forwards between contractor and architect seem to have got nowhere, the contractor has now finally threaten adjudication. What can I expect? (I'm in Scotland if that makes a difference.) How long til we get adjudication? Where does it happen? What will I need to do? Do I need to pay for this if the contractor is taking us there?

I'm a little bit apprehensive!
Thanks

bump

I don't have any advice but just wanted to offer sympathy...and just to say if it is such an obviously shoddy job surely you have nothing to fear. Gather as much evidence as you can and good luck.

Thanks Lady T, I'm dreading it so all support appreciated! Oh, and one of the contractors is one of my oldest and dearest friends...

Oh no! That's even worse! Bumping this, hope someone with knowledge can advise you further...

A very shoddy job indeed. We cut a hole in the plaster board just above the skirting and bits of insulation came tumbling out like cornflakes out of a packet. Seems we've paid 70K for smaller rooms and random pieces of packing polystyrene instead of the snugly insulated walls we thought we were getting.

Oh God, this sounds horrible. Is the QS giving expert witness and, if not, might it be worth employing a buildings surveyor to list the defects (in as plain as language as possible) in order to make the panel understand how shoddy it is? If you're using a QS, it sounds at least as if you have a proper schedule of works so that at least it is spelled out what should have been done. I'm assuming the adjudication is being done through a professional body - if so, they will, if they find against the builder, want you to give him a chance to redo the work which may not be the ideal outcome.

You have my sympathy.

Difficult to advise without more information. What sort of contract do you have? Did you or the architect specify products such as the insulation? Or did you leave it up to the contractor? What does the building regulations officer say? What is your contractors case - they must surely have an argument or they would not be risking ajudication. What's the other side of the story? Is the additional valuation for more work that you requested, or is it just the "price has gone up". To be honest, if you are going to ajudication you've both lost already, so you need to do anything you can before you get there.

Thanks for replies. The contract is a SBCC Minor Building Works in Scotland contract. The insulation was specified by original architect, but during works the walls were found to be too uneven for the board insulation, original architect then went to jail (child porn). We then took decision with builders to strap and line, then builders choose new material saying to new architect that it had the same thermal properties as that originally specified (u-value I think this is). Turns out it's nothing like.Also, there's a gap around the perimeter of the house because the walls insulation was done by the contractor and the floor by a sub contractor and nobody thought to get them to join up.

Price rocketed because of a) investigation of building meant that the whole roof hadn't been attached to the main part of the property for at least 30 years and could have blown of at any time a la three little pigs, b) external works added in to contract, c) client supply items not included in the original tender figure. And d) because the contractor said so.

Their argument is that they've done what they were asked to do and they can't be responsible for cold floor in winter. They think that they should have been paid for lots of the work that could be valued (i.e. some client supply items they bought, decorating, etc.) but our architect has withheld this as it is impossible to determine how much it would take to put things right in the house now as the problems are so fundamental.

Since I posted on Tuesday though I have had an expert witness (not QS - should I ask him as well?) to look. She's an experienced architect with legal background and she's referred our project to trading standards because of the claims about the type of insulation. She also uncovered mildew and other miseries.

What happens now? And who 'adjudicates'? I can find zero info on this!

Thank you again for the help.

Am bumping in hope!

One more try...