Establishing a precise scope of services in your consultancy agreements is one of the most important things you can do to mitigate your risk. Before embarking on a project, you should: check you have the knowledge, expertise and resources to perform each of the tasks listed in your scope of services and delete any listed […]

It’s no surprise that cost control is both a priority for clients and a recurring contributor to disputes and claims. Every construction project is a one-off, completed in a market where cost of materials and labour are constantly changing. At the time the initial budget is set, the project may contain a myriad of unresolved […]

Work health and safety legislation in every state and territory places obligations on consultants to do what is “reasonably practicable” to ensure that the buildings they design are safe. The sting in the tail of these obligations is the power of work health and safety regulators to prosecute designers for breach, seeking to impose fines […]

Determinative v Non-Determinative Processes and how they affect your Professional Indemnity (PI) Insurance It is not uncommon for consultants to experience a dispute at some point in their career.  Projects are increasingly complicated making the resulting disputes more complex too, but, lengthy and expensive litigation is no longer the default method used to resolve all […]

Our informed Practice Guides are a series of short notes providing general guidance on some common risk, insurance and contract related topics. Our Practice Guides cover a range of subjects from Novation, to Indemnities, and Inspections and Certificates. Planned Cover clients and paid subscribers of informed by Planned Cover can download the Practice Guides using […]

******    THE 2022 ANNUAL WEBINAR PASS IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE ****** In 2022, we are looking forward to continuing our series of webinars on emerging and long-standing issues in the field of the built environment. Presented by our own team of legally qualified risk managers, joined by experienced specialists from the industry, our webinar […]

It was a pleasure presenting on protecting intellectual property law. We received quite a few questions in relation to: clients copying designs for unrelated projects; and clients using partly completed designs and engaging a third party consultant to finalise the designs. As such, we thought it would be helpful to summarise the position in a […]

This Christmas time, more than many we’ve had before, we need to take stock, relax and give ourselves a huge pat on the back for making it through this unprecedented time relatively unscathed. Despite us wanting, nay needing, this time to rest, our work, projects and the obligations on consultants don’t and won’t really let […]

The last two years have seen a great increase in requests for specialist consultants to sign reports conforming that a specific design solution complies with the National Construction Code, especially where the design relies on a performance solution. Whether called a “certificate”, “report” or merely a “letter”, these documents impose liability and risk on the […]

In our recent webinar series ‘Getting Confident with Contracts – Part 1: A Practical Perspective’, polling indicated the following about client drafted contracts: at least 50% of consultants are told by clients that you are the only ones that won’t sign their contracts; over 50% of consultants have been told that client agreements cannot be […]