For Construction Businesses $5M to $200M
Get stronger legal and risk protection, smoother running projects and the peace of mind that comes from a Senior Construction Lawyer, experienced General Counsel and experienced Commercial Manager across your contracts, notices, variations, disputes and commercial decisions every month.
Rachelle Hare gives construction businesses turning over $5M to $200M senior legal cover, delivered remotely on a fixed monthly Retainer that starts from $2,500 plus GST per month.
An External General Counsel sits inside your construction business as your senior legal mind across the Contracts you sign, the Projects you deliver and the commercial decisions that have legal consequences.
Rachelle is the same senior Construction Lawyer who would otherwise sit inside a Tier 1 contractor as their in-house General Counsel, made available to your business on a fixed monthly Retainer instead of a full-time salary.
Most construction businesses turning over $5M to $200M cannot justify the $250,000-plus all-up cost of a full-time in-house General Counsel. Sending matters out to a different external Lawyer each time something goes wrong is expensive, slow, and means no one Lawyer ever holds the full picture of the business.
The External General Counsel Retainer fixes that gap. The same senior Construction Lawyer is across your business every month, knows your Contracts and your Projects, and is on the end of the phone when you need her.
“I have held in-house General Counsel and Senior Legal Counsel roles inside some of Australia’s largest Tier 1 contractors and Commonwealth entities, including Acting General Counsel at Thiess, Acting General Counsel at Defence Housing Australia, Senior Legal Counsel at Laing O’Rourke and Senior Legal Counsel at Acciona.
I know what the General Counsel role does day to day in a Tier 1 construction business and in a Commonwealth construction client, because I have done it. I now do that same work for construction businesses in the $5M to $200M range, calibrated to the scale and commercial reality of a mid-size Tier 2 or 3 construction business.”
Rachelle Hare, Fractional General Counsel, Senior Construction Lawyer, Commercial Manager
Very few Construction Lawyers in Australia offering External General Counsel services have held a senior in-house General Counsel role inside a major construction contractor or a Commonwealth construction client. Rachelle has held several.
Acting General Counsel for one of Australia’s largest construction and mining services contractors, covering the in-house legal function across major civil, infrastructure and mining services Projects.
Acting General Counsel for Defence Housing Australia, the Commonwealth Government’s defence housing provider, covering the legal function across procurement, development, head contracting and subcontract management nationally.
Senior in-house Construction Lawyer at a Tier 1 multinational contractor, working across major infrastructure and building Projects across Australia.
Senior in-house Construction Lawyer at a Tier 1 multinational infrastructure contractor, working on major civil and infrastructure Projects across Australia.
Rachelle has worked inside the in-house legal teams or commercial teams of over 10 Tier 1 and Tier 2 construction businesses and Commonwealth and Queensland Government entities, including Thiess, Laing O’Rourke, Acciona, UGL, Defence Housing Australia, Golding and a Tier 2 Construction and Technology provider where she served six years as Commercial Manager.
Where three or more of the signals below apply, it is time to engage a General Counsel, whether internal or external.
Once the decision to put a General Counsel in place is made, the next question is which model suits the construction business best. There are three real options.
A full-time in-house General Counsel on the payroll. The all-up annual cost in Brisbane sits at $250,000 to $350,000 once salary, on-costs, superannuation, office, technology and support are included.
Best suited to construction businesses with a steady, high-volume legal workload that supports a full-time role, typically $100M-plus revenue with several active major Projects at any one time.
The model Rachelle delivers. A fixed monthly Retainer for a defined scope of senior legal services. The same senior Construction Lawyer is across your business every month. No payroll, no office cost, no recruitment risk.
Best suited to construction businesses turning over $5M to $200M that need senior legal cover but cannot justify a full-time hire, and to businesses building toward a future in-house role.
A contractor Lawyer engaged for a set number of days per week or month, paid as a contractor rather than an employee. Suits businesses that need senior legal cover for a defined period, such as a Project bid, a dispute, or while a permanent role is being filled.
The cost depends on the days engaged and the seniority of the Lawyer. Often more expensive per hour than an External General Counsel Retainer because there is no scope efficiency built in.
Many construction businesses run a hybrid model. They engage Rachelle as External General Counsel on Retainer, use her to set up the internal legal function over time, and then transition to a junior or mid-level in-house Lawyer with Rachelle staying on as their senior mentor and escalation point.
Different construction businesses need different levels of senior legal cover at different stages. Rachelle offers three Retainer models, plus a fourth project-based Retainer for defined deliverables.
For business owners, executives or junior team members who want a senior Construction Lawyer at the end of the phone to test an idea, talk through an approach or get immediate input before making a decision.
Includes up to 3 hours of advisory time per month, across up to 10 phone calls that must fit within that 3 hour total. No document review and no written advice. From $2,000 plus GST per month.
The senior in-house legal function delivered remotely on a fixed monthly Retainer. Includes Construction Contract Review, Project legal advisory, Construction Dispute Resolution, compliance, governance and Board input within the agreed scope each month.
From $2,500 plus GST per month. Suits construction businesses turning over $5M to $200M that need ongoing senior legal cover.
A project-based engagement to set up your in-house legal function from the ground up. Rachelle builds the operating system, the policies, the procedures and the contract templates, then works with your team to bed them in.
She then helps draft the job ad for your first in-house Lawyer, interviews candidates with you and makes recommendations. Once the new hire starts, Rachelle delivers onboarding and a clean transition.
A fourth option is to engage Rachelle on Retainer for a defined deliverable, such as a Legal Playbook, a Construction Contract Review Playbook or a Subcontract suite refresh. These are scoped and priced as a project, with the fee spread across the project timeline.
A Retainer is an agreed monthly amount you pay whether you use the full scope of services in a particular month or not. In return, you get a defined scope of senior legal services from Rachelle each month, and her on call for the matters that fall inside that scope.
Every Retainer starts with a conversation about what your construction business needs from a senior Construction Lawyer each month. The Retainer is then priced and scoped against that, with a fixed monthly fee from $2,500 plus GST per month for the External General Counsel Retainer, or from $2,000 plus GST per month for the Quick Question Retainer.
All Retainer fees are payable monthly by direct deposit. Rachelle is happy to work under a Purchase Order approved in advance, with monthly payments still made by direct deposit. Retainers can be cancelled at any time. Pay for the current month and the Retainer ends at the end of that month.
The scope and the monthly amount can be changed at any time by agreement in writing between you and Rachelle. If she thinks the volume of work is growing past the agreed scope or shrinking below it, she will raise it with you and you can agree the change in writing.
The scope of each Retainer is agreed before it starts. The services covered are the legal services most commonly needed by a construction business in the $5M to $200M range. All services are delivered remotely by phone, email and video, with on-site time scheduled where needed.
Day-to-day legal input on live Projects. Notice obligations and Notices legal advice, time-bar tracking, Variation positioning, Extension of Time entitlements, Liquidated Damages exposure, and Payment Claim and Payment Schedule mechanics under the Building Industry Fairness (Security of Payment) Act 2017 (Qld).
Superintendent correspondence, Defects Liability Period management and Practical Completion close-out also fall here.
Construction Contract Review, drafting and Construction Contract Negotiation across Head Contracts, Subcontracts, Purchase Orders, Teaming Agreements, Non-Disclosure Agreements, Confidentiality Agreements, Service Agreements, Employment Contracts, supplier agreements and any other contracts the construction business signs.
Covers AS4000, AS4300, AS2124, AS4901, AS4902, AS4903, ABIC, NEC4, FIDIC, GC21, AUSDEFCON, Commonwealth head contracts, state government standard forms and bespoke or heavily-amended contracts drafted by Principals and Head Contractors.
Contract review during Projects is also included, where Variations, Subcontract amendments or new Purchase Orders need senior legal eyes before the team signs.
QBCC licensing and Minimum Financial Requirements compliance liaison, Security of Payment compliance across Queensland and other jurisdictions, and Australian Consumer Law obligations including the Unfair Contract Terms regime as it applies to small business standard form contracts in construction.
Personal Property Securities Act 2009 (Cth) registrations and compliance, Building and Construction Industry (Improving Productivity) Act compliance for federally-funded projects, Work Health and Safety Act 2011 legal exposure for directors and officers, and Privacy Act and confidentiality obligations.
Compliance with internal company agreements, shareholder agreements, joint venture agreements and supplier agreements where these documents touch the construction business.
Management, prevention and resolution of construction disputes during Projects. Where a commercial position with a Principal, Head Contractor or Subcontractor has shifted toward dispute, Rachelle sets up the dispute positioning, drafts the early correspondence and advises on adjudication and Security of Payment claim strategy.
Where formal court proceedings become necessary, Blaze Business & Legal engages trusted specialist litigators and Rachelle stays involved as the client’s commercial and strategic adviser throughout.
Legal input on director duties, director liability, conflicts management, related party transactions, shareholder agreements, internal company agreements and joint venture agreements. Personal guarantee review for directors before they sign, succession planning and the legal framework around a sale or restructure of the construction business.
Rachelle is available to attend Board meetings as External General Counsel and has presented to many Boards across her career, including as Acting General Counsel at Thiess and Acting General Counsel at Defence Housing Australia.
Construction risk registers, contractual risk allocation review, principal-side and subcontractor-side risk pricing, professional indemnity and public liability insurance review, and the interface between insurance cover and contractual indemnity clauses.
Director and officer liability protection, statutory liability review, and the legal framework around WHS notifications and incident response.
What is not in the standard Retainer. The External General Counsel role is a senior legal role. Commercial Management work, including Tender pricing, day-to-day contract administration, claims preparation and front-line commercial negotiation, is a separate engagement under the External Commercial Manager service. Litigation in court is run by specialist litigators with Rachelle as strategic adviser. Strategic Training and Mentoring of junior in-house Lawyers, Commercial Managers, Contract Managers and Contract Administrators is a separate service with its own engagement and pricing.
On call means Rachelle is available to your team for the work inside your Retainer scope, by phone, email or video, during business hours. If you need 24/7 availability for urgent matters on live Projects, including weekends and after hours, that can be agreed and built into the Retainer scope and fee.
The work is delivered remotely. Rachelle works from home or her offices in South Brisbane and is happy to come to your offices for meetings where needed. Most clients run on a phone, email, video and shared drive arrangement, with on-site time scheduled where the work calls for it.
A common problem in growing construction businesses is the junior in-house Lawyer, Commercial Manager or Contract Administrator who has been hired without anyone senior in their field inside the business to guide them. There may be senior people in the business, but they are not in the same technical field as the junior and cannot give them senior legal or commercial input on the work they are doing.
Work still gets sent out because the team has deadlines to meet, but the work may be below standard, incorrect, or miss important details. Notices get missed or fail to properly preserve the company’s entitlements. Variations get under-claimed or not picked up when work is not identified as out of scope. The business owner or decision makers are left filling the senior legal role themselves, without formal legal training.
Very few external Lawyers in Australia offer a service to fix this. Most outsourced and fractional General Counsel offerings deliver the legal work themselves on a Retainer. They do not upskill your in-house team so you stop needing them. Rachelle does, through her Strategic Training and Mentoring service, which is offered separately from the External General Counsel Retainer.
An External General Counsel is a senior Construction Lawyer engaged on a Retainer to act as the senior legal mind for a construction business. The role covers Construction Contract Review, drafting and negotiation, Project legal advisory, Notices legal advice, compliance, governance, director duties, Board input and Construction Dispute Resolution.
The work is the same work an in-house General Counsel would perform inside a construction business that employs one, delivered remotely on a fixed monthly Retainer.
You pay an agreed monthly amount whether the full scope is used that month or not. In return you get a defined scope of senior legal services from Rachelle each month, and her on call for the matters that fall inside that scope.
The scope and the monthly amount can be adjusted at any time by agreement in writing between you and Rachelle. If the volume of work grows past the agreed scope or shrinks below it, she will raise it with you.
Quick Question Retainers start from $2,000 plus GST per month for up to 3 hours of advisory time, across up to 10 phone calls that must fit within that 3 hour total, with no document review and no written advice. External General Counsel Retainers start from $2,500 plus GST per month for a defined scope of senior legal services each month.
Larger Retainers are scoped to the size and complexity of the construction business and the volume of legal work each month, priced as a fixed monthly fee with no hourly billing. Strategic Training and Mentoring of junior in-house team members is a separate service with its own pricing.
All Retainer fees are payable monthly by direct deposit. Rachelle is happy to work under a Purchase Order approved in advance, with monthly payments still made by direct deposit.
Retainers can be cancelled at any time. Pay for the current month and the Retainer ends at the end of that month.
The Quick Question Retainer gives you a senior Construction Lawyer at the end of the phone for up to 3 hours of advisory time each month, across up to 10 phone calls that must fit within that 3 hour total. No document review and no written advice. From $2,000 plus GST per month.
It suits business owners, executives or junior team members who want to test an idea, talk through an approach or get immediate input from Rachelle before making a commercial or legal decision.
Rachelle trains and mentors junior in-house Lawyers, Commercial Managers, Contract Managers and Contract Administrators through her Strategic Training and Mentoring service, which is offered separately from the External General Counsel Retainer.
That service is training and mentoring, not formal legal supervision. Rachelle does not sign off on the in-house team member’s legal work product or decisions. The in-house team member remains responsible for their own work product and reports through your usual line of management.
Yes. Rachelle attends Board meetings as External General Counsel and has presented to many Boards across her career, including as Acting General Counsel at Thiess and Acting General Counsel at Defence Housing Australia. Board attendance, paper review and director-level legal input can be built into the Retainer scope.
Yes. Rachelle delivers a project-based engagement to set up the internal legal function from the ground up. She builds the operating system, drafts the policies and procedures, sets up the contract templates and works with the team to bed it all in.
She then helps draft the job ad, interviews candidates with you and makes recommendations. Once the new in-house Lawyer starts, Rachelle delivers their onboarding and a clean transition. She is happy to stay on as the senior mentor and escalation point for the new hire under a separate Strategic Training and Mentoring Retainer.
A law firm engaged matter-by-matter comes in cold every time, bills by the hour, and does not stay across the Contracts, Projects, people and commercial position of the business between matters.
An External General Counsel stays across all of that, picks up legal risk early because the senior Construction Lawyer is in the business every month, and is engaged on a fixed monthly Retainer with no hourly billing.
Every major Australian construction contract form plus international forms used in Australia: AS4000, AS4300, AS2124, AS4901, AS4902, AS4903, ABIC suite, NEC4, FIDIC Red, Yellow and Silver Books, GC21, AUSDEFCON, Commonwealth head contracts, state government standard forms, and bespoke or heavily-amended contracts drafted by Principals and Head Contractors.
Not as part of this Retainer. Commercial Management work, including Tender pricing, day-to-day contract administration and claims preparation, is a separate engagement under the External Commercial Manager service. Some clients engage Rachelle in both roles.
Yes. Rachelle delivers defined projects on Retainer, including Legal Playbooks, Construction Contract Review Playbooks, Subcontract suite refreshes, compliance program builds and contract template suites. These are scoped and priced as a project, with the fee spread across the project timeline.
Yes. Rachelle has worked on construction Contracts and Projects across Queensland, New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory and other Australian jurisdictions across her career, and acts for construction businesses across those jurisdictions on the External General Counsel basis.
Call Rachelle to talk through what an External General Counsel Retainer would look like for your construction business. Retainers start from $2,500 plus GST per month for a defined scope of senior legal services.
Construction Lawyer, Business Adviser and Commercial Manager|Blaze Business & Legal
Rachelle has more than 25 years of experience in construction law, business advisory, commercial management, contract administration and construction business structuring. Her career includes senior in-house legal roles at Tier 1 and Tier 2 construction companies including Thiess, Laing O’Rourke and Acciona, and private practice experience at top-tier law firms Corrs Chambers Westgarth and McCullough Robertson. She also spent over six years as a senior commercial manager on Defence and Tier 2 Construction and Technology Projects, including 8 months as Deputy Program Manager on a construction and technology program of National significance. At Blaze Business & Legal, Rachelle works alongside Shannon Drew to provide integrated construction law, financial management, commercial and business advisory services to construction businesses across Australia.
