Adjudication Under the Construction Contracts Act 2013: The Complete Guide

The Construction Contracts Act 2013 — in force since July 2016 — gave Irish construction its most consequential procedural reform in a generation: any party to a construction contract can have a payment dispute decided, bindingly, within 28 days. This is the full walkthrough of how the process actually runs.

Scope: Which Contracts, Which Disputes

The Act covers construction contracts broadly — building, engineering, related works and services — between commercial parties, with the crucial dwelling exception: it does not apply to a contract relating to a dwelling of 200 m² or less which a party occupies or intends to occupy as their residence. Most domestic extensions and renovations sit outside the regime (homeowner routes live in the disputes practice); most business-to-business chains sit inside it. Referable disputes are those relating to payment — the interim account unpaid, the final account contested, the variations unvalued.

The Process, Step by Step

• Notice of adjudication: the referring party defines the dispute — drafting matters, since it frames the adjudicator’s jurisdiction;
• Appointment: agreed adjudicator, or panel appointment via the chair within days — stalling impossible;
• Referral: the full case served — and the 28-day clock starts;
• The exchange: response, any reply, directions as needed — compressed, documents-led, no room for attrition;
• Decision: within 28 days of referral (42 with the referring party’s consent; longer only by agreement) — reasoned, and binding pending final determination;
• Enforcement: the High Court’s dedicated mechanism converts non-compliance into judgment.

Winning It Before It Starts

Adjudications are decided by payment paperwork assembled months earlier: claims served to the contract’s schedule, responses (or telling silences) on file, works records that prove the valuation — the discipline set out in payment claim notices. For referring parties, preparation before the notice is the whole game: the referral should land complete while the respondent starts from zero inside a 28-day window. For respondents, the first week decides it: jurisdiction points (scope, crystallisation, the dwelling exception) raised properly, the valuation answered, settlement priced while leverage lasts — the practice both ways: our adjudication page.

Adjudication Among the Alternatives

The Act’s right sits alongside everything else: the contract’s arbitration clause, conciliation under public works forms, mediation, the courts (arbitration vs court). Its niche is unbeatable — payment disputes needing speed — and its statutory companions complete the toolkit: pay-when-paid largely abolished, and the right to suspend for the leverage moments before referral.