The situation your business is in
Every dollar of additional cost your contract does not allow you to recover comes directly out of your margin. If you tendered in 2023 or 2024 and you are delivering now, your margin is being compressed on projects that were commercially sound when you won them.
Your projects are losing margin you priced in good faith
Shannon Drew’s full cost analysis finds the gap running at 7 to 7.5 percentage points of margin on current projects. Full analysis →
Your contract may have more protection than you think
Rise and fall clauses are frequently added by special condition and missed on a first reading. Superintendent-directed changes may give rise to variation claims. Know your rights →
Notice deadlines may already be running against you
Under AS 4000 the window is 28 days. Under NEC4 it is 8 weeks from awareness. Missing the deadline can extinguish the entitlement entirely. Check your obligations →
Your cash flow and business position are connected
Unrecovered cost increases affect your working capital, your project margins, your next project, and your QBCC position. Shannon Drew works through the full picture. Understand the risk →
How you approach your principal changes the outcome
Principals make commercial decisions about cost claims. Framing, documentation, and delivery risk positioning determine whether you get engagement or rejection. What they’re thinking →
Your director obligations apply earlier than you think
The duty to prevent insolvent trading arises at the point of reasonable suspicion, not at formal insolvency. If your business is cash-flow negative and drawing on overdraft, that point may already have arrived. Director obligations →
Who you are working with
Rachelle Hare and Shannon Drew have worked inside the construction industry in the same roles, under the same contracts, dealing with the same principals and cost pressures your business is facing right now.
25 years in construction law and business advisory. In-house roles at Thiess, Laing O’Rourke, Acciona, DHA, and UGL. Rachelle advises on construction contracts, cost recovery, procurement, risk, compliance, commercial strategy, business structuring, and government and defence contracts. She has been on both sides of a cost recovery conversation.
25 years in construction business advisory and commercial advice. Shannon is a Management Accountant, Costs Accountant, Fractional CFO, Commercial Adviser, and Business Adviser. He works with construction businesses on project-level profitability, overhead recovery, pricing strategy, cash flow forecasting, financial modelling, operational and commercial decision support, and acts as External CFO. When a business does not know its real cost position, Shannon finds it.
Three fixed-fee services
Every construction business in this situation needs a clear picture across their legal rights, project cost position, overhead exposure, and business. These three services deliver that at a fixed price. You speak directly with Rachelle or Shannon from the first conversation. No junior staff.
With Rachelle Hare
With Rachelle Hare and Shannon Drew together
How Blaze Business & Legal works
Most construction businesses in this situation see their lawyer about the contract and their accountant about the numbers, separately. Rachelle Hare and Shannon Drew work together on the same engagement. The legal position and the business and cost position are assessed at the same time, against the same facts.
The 8-step response system
The complete 8-step system is on the Rising Construction Costs Australia pillar page.
All six inputs. Not just diesel.
Full document, all special conditions.
Realistic options on your contract.
Before any other step.
Documented, verifiable, specific.
Delivery risk, not contractor hardship.
Deed of amendment. In writing.
Legal, business and structural steps.
A Strategy Session gives you 60 minutes with Rachelle or Shannon, focused on your specific situation. You set the agenda.
The full picture
Most construction lawyers look at your contract. Most accountants look at your numbers. Neither looks at both at the same time, against the same facts. That gap is where construction businesses lose money they could have recovered.
Shannon Drew’s analysis of the six simultaneous cost inputs across real project portfolios consistently produces a total uncontracted cost that is two to three times higher than the diesel figure the business came in with. His analysis also covers overhead recovery and pricing exposure, because uncontracted cost increases are not only a procurement problem.
Most construction contracts provide no automatic protection against cost movements after the tender date. Whether your contract has a rise and fall clause, what it covers, and whether you have met your notice obligations determines what paths are available to you.
How principals think about cost claims is different from how most contractors approach the conversation. Getting that framing right determines whether you get engagement or rejection.
If your business is carrying losses on active projects and you are uncertain whether your position has reached the point where director obligations under the Corporations Act are engaged, that question needs to be answered now.
What clients say
“My construction business was slipping until a mate told me about Blaze Business & Legal. Now we’re kicking major goals.”
“We haven’t met any other lawyer or adviser who understands business structuring the way Rachelle Hare and Shannon Drew do. They looked at the whole structure of our business and helped us fix it.”
“I absolutely know I made the right decision coming to Blaze Business & Legal. Rachelle’s experience and confidence in the construction industry is clear to see.”
Frequently asked questions
Liability limited by a scheme approved under Professional Standards Legislation. The information on this page is general in nature and does not constitute legal or accounting advice. Contact Blaze Business & Legal for advice specific to your circumstances.
