The client is a private family of Barbadian and Dominican origin, living in London but seeking to relocate to Barbados. They therefore wanted to build a house for their use and retirement in Barbados.
They engaged a local builder to build the house according to outline designs completed to meet the Town and Country Planning requirements. A lump sum contract price was agreed and signed, with stage payments made. As is usual in Barbados, payments for work were made partly up front and partly on completion. Limited professional services were retained to manage the build. As a result of the financial crash, which had a delayed impact on Barbados, construction activity fell and the builder got into financial difficulty. As a result the works were not fully completed, although monies had been paid to do the work.
ACE was engaged to assist with understanding the work undertaken against the contract, review the contract and schedule all outstanding work. This work was then valued and a settlement agreement was negotiated with the builder which included a payment plan for the return of monies paid for which work was not undertaken.
ACE was then engaged to package the works up and seek contractors to complete the packages of work. We assisted in the management of that work.
The client received a clear understanding of the situation they faced, and a contractual undertaking for the repayments. The work was then completed in a phased approach to completion.
