In this instructional video, Cian Dillon Brennan, CEO of Quantum Contract Solutions, explains why and how contractors should use formal letters as an escalation tool on construction projects. He first defines the problem letters solve – prompting a response when routine communications (change orders, extensions of time, etc.) have stalled – and emphasizes that letters serve both to elicit action and to create a factual record for potential dispute resolution. Brennan outlines the optimal structure of a letter: identify the parties and contract date, provide a concise factual chronology, cite the specific contractual obligations that have been breached, and finish with a clear, easy‑to‑follow call to action (e.g., propose a meeting date). He warns against common mistakes such as emotional storytelling, overly long paragraphs, and drawing conclusions; instead, he advises writing for a third‑party reader, repeating the same factual narrative across multiple letters, and keeping the tone strictly factual. The video also touches on the broader business context, noting that many firms rely on post‑award contract expertise to protect cash flow and avoid losing money. Finally, Brennan advises a calm, negotiation‑focused mindset for any follow‑up meetings, positioning the letter as the first step in a race to minimise losses in a dispute.
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Hey, Construction Legends! In this video, we're going to talk about exactly how to write a letter on a construction project, why we're writing letters, what's the point, and how it can ultimately make sure that you get paid quicker, you get better cash flow, all of that good stuff. So, hi, my name is Cian Dillon Brennan. I'm the CEO of a company called Quantum Contract Solutions, and we help construction companies with a much smarter solution for contracts admin. So it's Kind of like instead of hiring an in-house contracts person, you, one set of skills, you hire Quantum and then we have the exact right person at the right process to negotiate you a better contract, to in post-award make sure that you're gonna have better cash flow and make sure that you get paid. And if you get into dispute, we've got a dispute expert as well. So it's a much better solution. And the reason we make these videos is because there's so many construction companies out there that are losing money hand over fist because they sign terrible contracts or they don't know how to manage their contracts in the post-award phase and they end up losing money hand over fist. All right, so let's get into this video today. Firstly, we gotta analyze what problem are we solving when we're writing a contractual letter. That's the first thing. At this stage, We're not talking about submitting notices. We're not talking about submitting variations. What's really happening is we're in a situation where we need to prompt a response. Something's not happening. You've submitted a change order, an extension of time, and nothing's happened. Nothing's been approved, or you're basically needing to get their attention. We are now a little bit more serious about that. Really, it is when you use it. Now, we don't want to be using letters all of the time. We always advise our clients to, when you're sending contractual notices, you want to make it look procedural. It's almost as if you're, you know, doing the same as a site instruction or, um, submitting documents or whatever it happens to be. You want your contractual correspondence, your notices, your change orders, variations, EOTs, whatever they're called on your construction projects, you want them to look procedural, right? But a letter is different. A letter is an escalation. We are escalating the issue to resolve the issue. Essentially, we tried all the normal ways and now we have to write a letter to essentially provoke a response of some kind to move something forward. We are now serious. That's really the reason we're using a letter on a construction project. That's the first thing. And now the second thing is what we're actually also doing is we're setting ourselves up for success if it ever goes to arbitration, mediation, whatever, that we have a body of evidence that we've done the right things. So if a third person is looking at the letter, they can easily understand what's happened that we followed due course, that we're doing the right things. And ultimately, I guess what we're trying to do is we're trying to say, hey, look, we're the lowly contractor, subcontractor, and we've done all of the right things and you're still not paying us. It's kind of what we're trying to portray to the world. What can happen then is if you don't submit letters or you don't, you end up in this kind of hole where nothing is happening. You can't get them to respond. They're not approving your change orders, they're not approving your EOTs, and ultimately that tightens your cash flow on a project. You can't pay your guys, or maybe not you can't pay your guys, but you're worried about paying your guys. There's loads of those type of things start creeping in and really makes the construction projects not fun. Now, on the other side of it is there's so many construction companies out there that the biggest, actually most of the biggest construction companies are reasonably happy to win a tender at a loss or break even, knowing that they have the contractual skills to make it up post award. And this forms part of that. Okay, so when we're writing our letters, right, the main purpose is we're trying to provoke a response and then we want them to take action. Okay, we want them to do something on the back of this letter. So we need to tell them what we want to do. Okay, so let's go through the mistakes that we see a lot of times in letters. So the first one is people try and tell a big story. They bring in feelings and they write long paragraphs, and then the letter just ends. It's kind of just like you've just insulted someone, as opposed to having a conversation with them. Laid out all the stuff that you don't like about the person, and somehow you're expecting them to respond in a positive way to get an outcome, and it just doesn't work like that. So what we need to do instead is when we're writing letters, right, first of all, that we understand that we're now in a situation where we need to get a response. They're not doing what we want. We need to escalate it. We're escalating the issue. So the first thing is, and the first concept I want you to understand is when you're writing a letter, first of all, It just needs to be factual, right? And you wanna write it not for the person you're sending it to. You wanna write it for a third party down the line reading it, okay? So if over a course of a few letters, what we wanna do is we wanna tell your story over and over and over again, okay? So if they read your letters or just multiple letters, they read the same story over and over and over again, and they're slowly starting to understand where you're coming from, and maybe they're even being a little bit brainwashed because you're saying the same thing over and over and over again. So don't be worried about repeating yourself if you have to send multiple letters. So first thing is you wanna lay out essentially who are the parties, right? So it's this is our company, this is their company, they're called the company, we're called the contractor, whatever it is. And we signed the contract on this date, right? And say that next thing you want to say is it's been going well. We've been doing our absolute best to have a great relationship, all of that stuff, a one-liner on that. And then you want to tell the chronology of events in just facts. So fact, fact, fact, fact, fact, fact, fact. Resist the urge to highlight conclusions, right? Let the person reading it to form their own conclusion by you presenting the facts. So instead of saying they're purposely not paying us, you can say, well, there was 60 days where we haven't been paid, something along the lines of that. So then the person reading goes, oh, it seems that they're purposely not being paid. You don't need to highlight those things. You just want to put down the facts. So chronology of events. Then you want to put in a section for the contractually. Contractually, They were obliged to do this, they haven't done this. And now the last bit of the letter is the call to action. So a call to action is something that is marketing related. So if you've got a site online, there's always, even if you look at quantumconstructsolutions.com, there's a call to action where you click a button to download a free case study or to see our case study. That's a call to action. You want someone to do something when they land on a page. In the letter, you ultimately don't want to just say this whole letter and then it just goes in to them and goes into the ether and nothing happens. What we actually want to happen is we want a next step, right? So we need to give them the next step and we want to make it really easy for them. Okay, so the next step is let's have a meeting. Basically, more often than not, if you can have a meeting with the right person, you can resolve an issue. So let's just say, hey, we would like to have a meeting with you to resolve this particular issue. Suggest a date, suggest a place, and ask them to respond to confirm, right? So it's really clear for them what the next step is. And then if, you know, over time— yeah, sorry, not over time— you're going to have the meeting, hopefully resolve it. If you don't and you need to send more letters, tell the story again, tell the story again, and then just keep pointing out all the facts. That's all we need to do. That's how you write letters. That's the most effective way to get a response. Don't forget your call to action. And in your meeting, always remember to yourself that if you get into dispute, it's a race to see who loses the least amount of money. So you're already at the best point possible, right, where you are before you get in. So be willing to give a little bit in that negotiation and try and come to a resolution, right? So go into that meeting. We'll do a different podcast on how to approach meetings. Specifically, but go into that meeting in a very calm, factual way and try and come to negotiation. It'll be far better for your construction company. So that's it for today. Write your letters if you need to, and I'll see you in the next.
