Send us the contract and the dates
Tell us briefly where the project stands. Most building matters turn on what is already written down, so the contract and a short list of dates are usually enough to work out what has to happen next. If something has a deadline on it — a payment claim, a warranty period, a hearing date — say so in the first line.
Please do not send detail about your matter before a conflict check. A short summary is enough to arrange a first conversation.
Which side of the contract you are on, what the project is, and the dates: when the work was completed or was due to be, and when the problem first appeared.
Say so at the top of your message and give the date it arrived and how it arrived. The periods under the Security of Payment legislation are short and they are counted from service.
Tell us the completion date. For contracts signed on or after 1 February 2012, a statutory warranty claim runs for six years for a major defect and two years for any other defect, measured from completion, so that date decides how urgent the matter is.
Tell us the next date in the matter — a directions hearing, an adjudication, a response that is due. Deadlines will already be running and some of them will be close.
A short summary is enough to arrange a first conversation. Documents and the detail of your matter should wait until a conflict check has been done, and you have been told where to send them.
Sydney Building Lawyers is an informational website about building and construction law in New South Wales. Nothing on it is legal advice, and sending this form does not create a lawyer and client relationship.