No published national figure for the cost of close-out disputes in Australia

What it is. None - no Australian national source found gives an amount, a share of contract value or a share of disputes for practical completion, defects, final account, retention or security held past release.

Sample. Search terms: retention money Australia estimate held; practical completion dispute Australia; final account dispute; defects liability dispute cost; building defects rectification national study; security of payment retention; Murray review, Productivity Commission, Infrastructure Australia, Arcadis, HKA CRUX. No national count of retention or final account disputes was found: the Murray review (p.270) says subcontractors often judge recovery of retention not worth its cost, but does not size it. A web estimate of about $18 billion of retentions outstanding was seen only in a vendor's back-of-envelope post and is not offered.

What it is not. Recorded as `none` on purpose. Ten sources were opened (listed above); none states an Australian national amount or share for close-out disputes. The UK retention survey (Pye Tait 2017) is already in the corpus under another disease and does not apply to Australia. This is the next place to look for research, not a zero.

Where it came from

• J Murray AM, for the Australian Government (Department of Jobs and Small Business) (2017), Review of Security of Payment Laws: Building Trust and Harmony
  Section 15.5 'Retentions and bank guarantees', p.270 · source record

Considered and set aside

• Griffith University (Campos Gutierrez, Panuwatwanich and Walker): Damages (45 of 78 cases) mostly means defective work, but there is no close-out category and no amounts.
• Western Sydney University and Griffith University (Rahnamayiezekavat and others): Quality (workmanship) is 13% of 230 NSW cases (Table 3, p.9), but not split by stage and has no amounts; NSW only.
• Special Joint Taskforce (Byrne; Queensland Police Service, QBCC and ODPP): Queensland subcontractors report final claims cut for defects or liquidated damages; the $288,000 average loss is for all non-payment, not close-out, and is state-level.
• Love, Irani, Smith, Regan & Liu: Draws on 67 projects' completed final accounts, but measures change orders (11% of work value), not disputes about the final account.
• Productivity Commission: Silent on retention money, defects liability and final accounts (its 'retention' hits concern workforce).
• Australian Construction Industry Forum and Australasian Procurement and Construction Council: Mentions extensions to practical completion and defects in subsurface clauses only; no data.
• Infrastructure Australia: Names completion and commissioning as a risk by sector with no dispute data.
• HKA: Reports deficient workmanship on 20.1% of Americas projects; no close-out category and nothing Australian.
• Arcadis: Lists defective specifications among typical claims; no close-out stage, amounts or Australian split.
• Liu (DGA Australia): State adjudication totals for all payment claims; retention and final account claims are not separated.

disputes/closeout_dispute_none_au · AU · F ·the record ·link to this figure ·dispute this figure(or email support@demiton.io)