{"id":887246,"date":"2026-01-23T21:13:28","date_gmt":"2026-01-24T03:13:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/23\/me-firm-ordered-to-repay-more-than-100000-over-defective-work\/"},"modified":"2026-01-23T21:13:28","modified_gmt":"2026-01-24T03:13:28","slug":"me-firm-ordered-to-repay-more-than-100000-over-defective-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/23\/me-firm-ordered-to-repay-more-than-100000-over-defective-work\/","title":{"rendered":"M&E firm ordered to repay more than \u00a3100,000 over \u2018defective\u2019 work"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\"High<\/p>\n

\n

A mechanical and electrical (M&E) subcontractor that argued an adjudicator had gone off on a \u201cfrolic\u201d when determining the cost of \u201cdefective\u201d work has been ordered by the High Court to repay a contractor more than \u00a3100,000.<\/p>\n

Loughton-based VMA Services Ltd<\/a> accused the adjudicator of \u201cignoring\u201d evidence and using \u201cguesswork\u201d to assess the true value of work it had completed for Project One London Ltd (POL).<\/p>\n

The case concerned a \u00a3387,696 contract, signed in October 2023, for VMA to design and install mechanical works at 1-4 Munro Terrace and 112-114 Cheyne Walk in London.<\/p>\n

A long-running legal dispute then began in 2024 when POL withheld its final payment of \u00a3106,435 to VMA, claiming the design of the air conditioning was defective.<\/p>\n

Despite POL taking VMA to adjudication to determine the true value of the work, its failure to serve a valid Payment Notice or Pay\u2011Less Notice led to POL being ordered to honour its payment to VMA of \u00a3112,034, which included interest.<\/p>\n

However, after POL paid the amount, it disputed the decision.<\/p>\n

In September 2025, a new adjudicator reduced the overall value of the work to \u00a3157,890 and ordered VMA to repay POL \u00a3102,657 by 25 September 2025. No interest was awarded.<\/p>\n

However, VMA failed to pay and POL took its case to the High Court for enforcement of the decision.<\/p>\n

VMA claimed the ruling was a breach of natural justice on three grounds.<\/p>\n

It firstly argued the adjudicator had gone off on a \u201cfrolic\u201d and taken into consideration air conditioning pipework even though it said this issue had not been raised previously.<\/p>\n

Secondly, it claimed evidence in relation to the cost of a water tank was ignored and accused the adjudicator of using \u201cguesswork\u201d to establish the value of the work, and lastly that the level of reduction applied was \u201carbitrary\u201d.<\/p>\n

The judge dismissed all VMA\u2019s claims.<\/p>\n

He said the adjudicator had done the \u201cbest he could\u201d in considering the pipework, as he had been presented with \u201cunhelpful and imprecise\u201d evidence in relation to the air conditioning defects.<\/p>\n

As the adjudicator had found the pipework was \u201clikely defective\u201d, the valuation of the air conditioning work would be affected and VMA had been given an opportunity comment on it.<\/p>\n

The judge added that as a result the arbitrator\u2019s reduction of VMA\u2019s calculation of \u00a347,407 by 50 per cent was not arbitrary.<\/p>\n

In relation to issues surrounding an uninstalled water tank, VMA had alleged the adjudicator, who deducted 25 per cent off VMA\u2019s pricing, had \u201cignored undisputed evidence and substituted his own guess as to the valuation\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is nothing to suggest that the adjudicator deliberately ignored any evidence,\u201d the judge said. \u201cI consider this criticism to be misconceived.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the \u201carbitrary\u201d claim, the judge said the adjudicator \u201cwas providing the best approximate valuation he was able to produce in the time available\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is exactly what the courts require adjudicators to do: no more and no less.\u201d<\/p>\n

Summing up, the judge added: \u201cThis is a classic case of a losing party seeking to comb through the adjudicator\u2019s reasons and identify points upon which to present a challenge under the labels \u2018excess of jurisdiction\u2019 or \u2018breach of natural justice\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Read More<\/a>
\n Cristina Lago<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A mechanical and electrical (M&E) subcontractor that argued an adjudicator had gone off on a \u201cfrolic\u201d when determining the cost of \u201cdefective\u201d work has been ordered by the High Court to repay a contractor more than \u00a3100,000. Loughton-based VMA Services Ltd accused the adjudicator of \u201cignoring\u201d evidence and using \u201cguesswork\u201d to assess the true value<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":887247,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2572,114198],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-887246","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ordered","8":"category-repay"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/887246","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=887246"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/887246\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/887247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=887246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=887246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=887246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}