It’s high time that the awful payment rules in the Construction Act were scrapped. They are, by far, too complicated, heaving with technical traps and ambushes. Have a look at the case of Placefirst Construction Ltd vs CAR Construction (North East) Ltd; it was decided in the Technology and Construction Court on 24 January. Scratch your head as you go.

The whole idea of the Construction Act was to defeat those who paid late, or too little, or not at all. First base was not adjudication; instead it was to be an easy-to-follow and slick interim invoice, followed by a whinge from the other party and, if none, then bang: the invoice was payable. It is pipe up or pay up. But the Construction Act turns this simple idea into a rigmarole, which can be exploited by clever lawyers who wouldn’t know their perpends from their arris rails. Make the rules industry-driven, not lawyer-driven.

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