The Subcontractors Blueprint

The Subcontractors Blueprint

Hosted by: Jacob Austin

Welcome to "The Subcontractors Blueprint," the essential podcast for construction industry Subcontractors. Join host Jacob Austin, a seasoned Chartered Surveyor with a rich background in industry giants and the...

All Episodes

Episodes

Whoever Moves First Has Already Won- As Long As They're Prepared

Episode 150 of The Subcontractors Blueprint sees Jacob Austin pull apart the mechanics of construction adjudication — how a dispute actually runs from the notice to a binding, enforceable decision. Continuing the...
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The Mistake That Hands the Other Side Your Whole Hand

Episode 149 of The Subcontractors Blueprint sees Jacob Austin tackle crystallisation — the jurisdictional gate every dispute must pass through before it reaches adjudication. Continuing the disputes mini series, Jacob...
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Disputes Mini-Series: Four Routes to Dispute Resolution

Episode 148 of The Subcontractors Blueprint opens a new mini-series on disputes, with host Jacob Austin mapping the four routes a subcontractor can take when the work is signed off but the payments have stopped. Jacob...
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Your Valuation Got Slashed - Here's How to Fight it Without Starting a War

Episode 147 of The Subcontractors Blueprint sees Jacob Austin tackle the difficult commercial conversation — the phone call or meeting where a slashed valuation is either recovered or quietly lost. Jacob Austin...
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The Art and Science of Notices: How to Serve a Notice Without Starting a War

Episode 146 of The Subcontractors Blueprint sees Jacob Austin break down one of the most commercially dangerous areas of subcontract management: serving notices- and doing it correctly under JCT and NEC subcontracts....
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Termination Hiding Inside a Variation

Episode 145 of The Subcontractors Blueprint sees Jacob Austin examine one of the most common and costly manoeuvres in UK construction — the unlawful omission variation. When a main contractor strips scope from a...
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Can Force Majeure Really Protect Subcontractors from Material Price Surges?

Episode 144 of The Subcontractors Blueprint tackles one of the most misunderstood clauses in construction contracts. Jacob Austin, Quantity Surveyor and host, cuts through the widespread assumption that force majeure...
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Why Being Right Doesn't Get You Paid

Episode 143 of The Subcontractors Blueprint sees Jacob Austin confront one of the most expensive commercial blind spots in the industry: the absence of records. Subcontractors are losing money on variations,...
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Main Contractors Are Banking on Your Silence for Their Cashflow

Episode 142 of The Subcontractors Blueprint sees Jacob Austin tackle one of the most commercially damaging patterns in UK construction: deliberate late payment. Drawing on government data showing late payment costs...
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The Hidden Dangers Buried in Your Subcontract

Episode 141 of The Subcontractors Blueprint sees Jacob Austin deliver a blunt commercial warning to every subcontractor in the UK who has ever signed a subcontract without reading it in full. Covering ten hidden...
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Five Ways Contractors Hide Illegal Payment Clauses

Episode 140 of The Subcontractors Blueprint sees Jacob Austin expose five ways main contractors are disguising illegal payment clauses in bespoke subcontract amendments — nearly 30 years after pay when paid was banned...
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Case Law Coffee Break

Episode 139 of The Subcontractors Blueprint delivers Jacob Austin's Spring Case Law Coffee Break — a plain-English breakdown of four recent UK construction judgments that directly affect how subcontractors get paid,...
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