ABSTRACT
In the Third Edition, Jack Russell said, 'Some builders have a policy of recouping their losses by setting off money from their subbies. Out of the blue comes a letter from the builder blaming specialist contractors' unfortunate subbie for the project delays, and informing him that the costs of liquidated damages and the builder's own prelims costs will be deducted from the next payment due'. Contractors can return a profit is to beat it out of their Subcontractors. Of course, not all Contractors operate in this way, but there is not a week goes by when people are not advising their exclusively Subcontractor Clients about such unfair treatment. Most major Contractors have clauses entitling them to deduct set-off for future estimated costs that may or may not actually happen. Other fertile opportunities for contras may be based on alleged damage to other trades, additional attendance provided by the Contractor, failure to clear rubbish.
