Fixed-fee contract and payment support for subcontractors.
From someone who does it for a living on the subcontractor's side. Director-level commercial help at a fixed price, without the cost of a solicitor or a full-time commercial manager.
Three ways subcontractors lose money on paper
Signing blind
Signing subcontracts without understanding the payment terms, time bars, damages and set-off provisions.
Missed notices
Being underpaid or paid late because notices were missed or not challenged.
Lost entitlement
Losing entitlement to time and money because delay and change were not notified or evidenced properly.
Two fixed-price places to start
Each one ends with a written deliverable you can act on without further input from RoCo.
Subcontract Red-Flag Review
A written report on one subcontract: risk-rated clauses on payment, notices and time bars, damages, set-off, design liability and termination, with proposed amendments and a 30-minute call.
Payment Health Check
A review of one payment cycle (application, payment notice, pay less notice and dates) against the subcontract and the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996 (as amended), with a written view on what is due and what to do next.
When you need more
How it works
Send the documents
The subcontract you have been asked to sign, or the application and notices for one payment cycle.
Pay the fixed fee
Fees under £1,000 are paid on instruction. We send an invoice when you instruct us; payment is by bank transfer. The 2 working days run from receipt of the complete documents and payment.
Get a written answer
A report that tells you what the risk or the entitlement is and what to do next, in plain terms you can act on.
Specialist subcontractors without a commercial director
UK specialist subcontractors with a turnover of roughly £1m to £25m and no in-house commercial director or quantity surveyor with contract experience.
Ross Starkey
A quantity surveyor by training (BSc Hons, Quantity Surveying and Commercial Management) with over 20 years in construction commercial management under NEC, JCT and FIDIC contracts. Ross has led commercial teams of up to 18 for tier-one main contractors, on portfolios of up to £225m a year, and has worked client-side on defence and water infrastructure. He knows how a main contractor's commercial team values, certifies and resists a claim, because he has run those teams.
He now works on the subcontractor's side. Recent work includes an adjudication referral for an extension of time and prolongation claim, the payment applications and more than 70 compensation events on a £3.4m NEC4 roofing and waterproofing subcontract on a major hospital project, and renegotiating the payment and delivery terms of a £2.8m international supply agreement for a UK joinery manufacturer.
You do not need a solicitor for most of this
Reviewing a subcontract, challenging a payment notice, writing a claim and running an adjudication are not jobs the law reserves to solicitors. A commercial specialist can do them for a fixed fee, so you keep the legal spend for the few things that need it.
Where you do need a solicitor, RoCo says so at the start.
Send it over before you sign it.
Upload the subcontract or the payment notices and say which service you want. The price is fixed before any work starts.
Your documents are kept confidential and used only to advise you.
Prefer to talk first? 07810 000700
