How much does construction adjudication cost?
The adjudicator's fees, usually charged hourly and allocated in the decision, plus each party's own costs of preparing its case, which are normally not recoverable from the other side.
Updated: 15 September 2026. By Jack Butler-Kettle, Quantity Surveyor & Claims Consultant.
The answer
Two costs, treated differently. The adjudicator's fees and expenses are charged for the time spent and allocated between the parties in the decision, most often against the losing party, with both parties jointly liable to the adjudicator. Each party's own costs, meaning its consultants, solicitors and time, are borne by that party whatever the outcome; a clause that makes one side pay the other's costs is ineffective unless it is agreed in writing after the notice of adjudication. That is why adjudication suits disputes where the sum comfortably exceeds the cost of preparing the case, and why the amount of preparation should be sized to the dispute. For smaller sums there are low-value dispute schemes with capped adjudicator fees and simplified procedures. No figure is given here because fees depend on the adjudicator, the sum and the volume of documents; our own fees are quoted on enquiry.
Example
The situation
A disputed final account balance stands at £22,000 and the referring party plans a fully documented referral with quantum evidence. The cost of adjudicating is weighed against the sum in dispute before the referral is drafted.
What happens
- The likely adjudicator's time and the referring party's own preparation are estimated against the £22,000 in dispute.
- If those costs are likely to approach half the sum in dispute, a capped-fee scheme or a settlement meeting first is the commercial route.
- If the notice position is clean and the referral is short, the cost is small against the sum.
The outcome
The route follows the estimate: a capped-fee scheme or a settlement meeting where costs approach half of the £22,000, a direct referral where the notice position is clean and the referral short.
Adjudication & Dispute Support is scoped to the size of the dispute before anything is prepared.