Approach
How an engagement runs.
Four steps. It is a sequence, not a menu — each one decides whether the next is worth doing.
- 01
A conversation
Twenty minutes, no charge, no obligation. What has happened, what the contract says, what you need to happen next.
A useful proportion of these end with a recommendation and no engagement. If the problem is smaller than it feels, or if what you need is a solicitor rather than an advisor, that is the outcome and it costs nothing.
- 02
A read of the position
The contract, the correspondence, the programme, the site records. What the entitlement is under the contract or the legislation, and separately, what the evidence will actually support.
Those two are not the same thing and the gap between them is where most claims are lost.
- 03
A recommendation, in writing
What the position is, what the options are, what each one is likely to cost and what it is likely to return. With the reasoning, so you can disagree with it on the substance.
Where the recommendation is to accept a poor outcome because pursuing it costs more than it recovers, that is written down plainly. That advice is worth as much as the other kind and is harder to get.
- 04
The work
Scoped and priced before it starts. Fixed fee where the scope can be defined, hourly where it genuinely cannot, and the reason for whichever applies is explained.
You are told when the position changes. Advice that was right in March and is wrong in July is worth knowing about in July.
The advice you are paying for is the advice you do not want to hear.
Principles
Four things that do not change.
Say the hard thing first
If a claim is weak, that is the opening sentence, not a caveat on page four. Hedged advice is a way of transferring risk back to the client without saying so.
Records before argument
The strongest legal position in the world does not survive an absent site diary. Most of the useful work is done long before anyone is arguing.
Know where the line is
Ambit is not a law firm and does not give legal advice. Where a matter needs a solicitor, that gets said early rather than worked around expensively.
No system you do not need
Ambit does not resell software and takes no commission from any vendor, supplier or contractor. The recommendation is not a sales channel for something else.
Commercial terms
What it costs.
The first conversation is free. After that, work is quoted before it starts — fixed fee where the scope can be defined, and an hourly rate with an agreed cap where it cannot.
Ongoing arrangements are available where a business needs contract administration or commercial support on a continuing basis rather than matter by matter. That is usually cheaper than calling someone once a dispute has already started.
Standard rates
- Specialist advisoryTender assessment and negotiation, value management, design analysis, statutory and NCC review, claims
- $300 / hr
- Site attendanceMinimum one hour
- $300 / hr
- Travel to and from siteCharged each way
- $150 / hr
- Software and data engineering, analyticsDocument ingestion and structured extraction, cost and programme data models, the project dashboard and its registers
- $250 / hr
- Contract administration and project supportOngoing administration through delivery
- $150 / hr
- Basic administrationDocument consolidation and issue, filing, registers, paperwork
- $100 / hr
Rates are exclusive of GST and are charged for the work being done, not for the seniority of whoever does it — there is only one person. Time is recorded against the task, and the record is visible to the client. Disbursements, such as a bill of quantities prepared by a measurer, are recharged at a fixed amount agreed before the work starts.
The project portal — hosting, access control, the document and cost registers, and the software behind them — is included in the rates on acceptance of an engagement. There is no subscription, no licence fee and no ongoing charge for access.
Start with a conversation.
No obligation and no charge for the first one. If the answer is that you do not need Ambit, that is a useful thing to find out in twenty minutes.