Opinion 鈥� Page 358
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Comment
How do I 鈥� fund a claim?
Even if you are reasonably sure of success, funding can be an obstacle to pursuing a claim. Luckily, there are three alternatives to stumping up the cash yourself
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CommentCosting the earth
You may think that, given the importance of a housebuilder鈥檚 landbank, there would be a well understood way of valuing it. And you鈥檇 be wrong
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Comment
Blame the clients
One aspect of the Office of Fair Trading鈥檚 cover-pricing inquiry that seems to have been missed is the effect of clients and their professional advisers
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Comment
Take a cut of future contracts
There may be such a thing as an innocent cover price, if the contractor does not want to bid but does want to show willing. However, cover prices can be used to share the work around and the only reason for that is to keep prices high
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Comment
Doubt its illegality
The 13 roofing contractors that the OFT found guilty of price fixing in 2006 were not engaged in 鈥渟imple cover pricing鈥�, but bid-rigging
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Comment
Worry about Europe
A key point that was not addressed in the podcast on www.building.co.uk was the future ability of the 鈥済uilty鈥� contractors to tender for public works
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Comment
Be ashamed (i)
If a member of the RICS were found guilty of anything 鈥渇raudulent鈥� they would be stripped of their MRICS status and would most likely be fired by their employer
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Comment
Be ashamed (ii)
As a registered architect, all I can say is that if I were found guilty of this sort of practice I would be struck off 鈥� not given excuses by the government
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Comment
Suspend the fines
Although the process of investigation and the resultant findings were necessary to halt bid-rigging, I among many others will be disappointed by the level of fines imposed by the OFT, which may cripple or close some companies
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Comment
Learn basic morals
Why do the construction companies seem not to understand their own lack of morality?
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Put your house in order
In a world of short tender periods and poor contract information, clients are expecting contractors to be gamblers
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Punish the guilty
Cover pricing saves the contractors the cost of tendering and they can agree between themselves who will get the next tender
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CommentThe academy in peril
If you find yourself with a spare hour in Piccadilly, go and see Anish Kapoor at the RA: it鈥檚 disturbing, even violent, but it has a lot to say about how art fits into buildings
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CommentWonders & blunders with Fergus Henderson
Restaurateur Fergus Henderson considers a temple to chaos, fine dining and the wet fish trade in the City of London and, er, the City of London
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CommentHansom:聽Claws on the catwalk
As London Fashion Weekend draws to a close, it seems construction is still in the mood, getting huffy about shoe design, contemplating the female form and knocking back champagne. Back to reality, guys
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Comment
Contractors are bagging a third less new work than at peak
The latest new orders figures provide a sobering injection of reality after the barrage of "it's okay the recession is over" talk that seems rife.Yes the rate of collapse has slowed. But it's the level that really matters at the moment.Forgetting seasonal adjusted constant price measures, if we compare the ...
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Comment
How much has the recession cost house builders? um...
During a conversation with a colleague on the recent spate of cash calls by house builders I was quizzed on how much damage the recession had done to their balance sheets.I made a stab (a lucky guess as it turned out), but I should have had a number at my ...