The Engineer’s Representative runs the contract on site under a written delegation from the Engineer. That means issuing notices and instructions, verifying quantities and quality against the specification, managing hold and witness points, assessing variations and putting verified figures in front of the Engineer for certification. Under NZS 3910:2013 the role carries an obligation to act fairly between the Principal and the contractor, which in practice means the reasoning has to hold up when the other side reads it. The full guide to the role →
Not without a route through the contract. A back charge is a deduction from money the contractor is otherwise entitled to, so it needs a clause, a procedure and usually a notice first. Read the clause for the duty and the consequence it attaches, work out what the contractor knew at the time. Then test the deduction as hard as you would test the claim. If it isn’t ready, state it and reserve it in the schedule. Don’t net it off quietly. When a back charge holds and when it doesn’t →
Usually not. If the item is measured under the basis of payment, the extra quantities are paid through the monthly remeasure at the schedule rate against what is physically placed. The schedule quantity is not a cap. Taking them out of the variation removes a quantity argument that can’t be won and pays the contractor exactly once. The 7 places a variation goes wrong →
No. The days between the instruction and the date the affected work would have started anyway were occupied by other work, so nothing was lost on them. I build 3 timelines from the contractor’s own programme and the record, then test whether completion actually moved. Claims assessed that way often come out at a fraction of the days claimed. Splitting the days →
Separate the 2 in writing that day. The hold point in the contract, its criterion and the evidence it has been met on one side. The new criterion with its source, threshold and current value on the other. Then either instruct the new criterion, with the cost and time that follows, or release on the contract. The contractor can’t be held on an undefined test. Hold points that drift →
The 2023 edition splits functions that 2013 combined. The Contract Administrator assesses and recommends. The Independent Certifier determines. I work under both editions and write assessments the same way under either one. What was claimed, what the contract says, what the record shows and what I recommend, so the reader can see exactly where my position differs from either party’s.
The contract, including Schedule 1 and any special conditions. The claim and the notices behind it. The accepted programme as the native MS Project file rather than a PDF, because for delay the logic matters more than the dates. Site diaries, photos and correspondence for the period in question. If some of that doesn’t exist, that’s worth knowing early.
Yes. 1 variation assessment, 1 payment claim review, a delay question or a set of contract documents are all normal jobs. There’s no onboarding cycle to get through first.
Yes. A lot of my work is exactly that. On SH29 it’s through Axell Consultants and on the 2024 Tauranga City Council contracts it was through Tonic Consulting. The consultancy holds the contract and I provide the Engineer’s Representative or contract administration resource on a specific job.
Through people I’ve worked with before. Structural, civil, geotechnical, surveying, quantity surveying, planning and NDT. I hold the appointment and carry the coordination, so you still deal with 1 person. My own background includes structural design and verification, so I can test a technical answer against the contract and the site rather than just pass it on.
Bay of Plenty and Waikato as standard, from Mount Maunganui. Wider New Zealand by arrangement. Past work includes Auckland, Hauraki, Gisborne and the Wairarapa.
BlueWave Consulting Limited is a New Zealand registered company, NZBN 9429052994395, GST 146-306-950, incorporated 21 July 2025. Professional indemnity and public liability cover are held with NZI. I can send certificates of currency on request. Company details →