Pyments Project Monitoring

July 4, 2025

This year is the 20^th year of Pyments Project Monitoring (“PPM”). During this time PPM has been instructed by all parties to a construction contract and has recorded progress on a wide variety of construction schemes covering the length & breadth of the UK.

PPM instructions have included super hospitals, research hospitals, cancer hospitals, care homes, schools, colleges, universities, student accommodation buildings, laboratories, space technology buildings, TV & film studios, Premier League football training facilities, restaurants, factories, warehouses, offices, apartment buildings, retail buildings, mixed use buildings, high rise buildings, historic buildings, housing projects, council buildings, MOD properties, MOJ properties, infrastructure projects. It’s a long and extensive list of projects which we are very proud to have had involvement with.

So, where did it all begin for me……well believe it or not it was a chance meeting at a children’s birthday party. As I sat there politely accepting another cup of tea whilst my son was no doubt causing havoc somewhere in a ball pit, I struck up conversation with a man who looked like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders. He worked for a company called Pyments and was in the middle of a construction adjudication!

Adjudication was still relatively new to the construction industry at this time, and having not been involved in one, I was keen to understand the process and the experiences of those involved. What followed was a 20-minute tirade of criticism for the standard of record keeping in the construction industry and the ability, or lack thereof, to substantiate the matters in dispute.

As an experienced Project Manager, I was all too familiar with the benefits of capturing and maintaining detailed site progress records and had first-hand experience of how this information both assisted the proactive delivery of my construction projects, and also protected my position to time and cost entitlement on a retrospective basis. When my new found friend had finished his impassioned rant, I put down my cap of tea and handed him my business card. He, and the construction industry, had a “need” and together we could “invent” a solution.

As the candles were being blown out on the birthday cake, we had discussed how many of his clients, predominantly in the contracting sector, were losing out on genuine entitlement due to a lack of tangible and detailed records to particularise its position whether as a referring party or a responding party in an adjudication. By the time my son had received his party bag, we had formulated a plan to correlate onsite build activity records with a comprehensive pictorial record of progress and which could align with critical path programme analysis all using the then newly emerging digital video and photography technology, as well as construction programming software. We were convinced we were onto something.

In December 2005, I joined Pyments to head up its new project monitoring service and the first PPM instruction was secured; a main contractor was renovating on an old listed Manor House. The Works required the retention of many internal features and the conversion of the existing Manor House into several self-contained apartments. As you can imagine, this involved numerous unforeseen and unknown rectification and remedial works as the strip out works progressed. This resulted in the need for extensive Request For Information lists and Design Detail approval processes tobe meticulously followed under the Contract.

The detailed progress records which were obtained acted both as a reminder to produce and update the administrative records, and also acted as the detailed particularisation from which the main contractor could demonstrate the significant varied works and to which it was entitled to additional time and money. Without the detailed records obtained by PPM the main contractor would without doubt have been retrospectively trying to justify(both internally and externally) why the project was over budget and critically delayed. As it was, additional time and money entitlement was secured contemporaneously and a potential dispute had been successfully avoided.

Satisfied with a job done well and tangible evidence this was a service that the construction industry needed, we set about securing more instructions. What became apparent following these initial instructions was that although the “invention” of PPM came through a perceived “need” in adjudication, the more detailed contemporaneous record available on a project the less likely that the project would end up in an adjudication. Disputes were “nipped in the bud” before they had opportunity to bloom and during the formative years of PPM, we had a proud record of never being involved in a project which was the subject of third party dispute resolution determination. Even now, the percentage of projects upon which PPM were instructed at an early stage of the Works, and which resulted in an adjudication is less than 20%. The availability of extensive and accurate progress records is a major contributor to this statistic.

As the PPM service evolved, we developed a methodology of cataloguing the images to project drawing data and created coding software to record and rename the images in “batches”. This allowed each image to have a unique code and when placed in the catalogue provided easy access to locate images from any location or on any site visit. The PPM service was streamlined over time and we now have a secure on-line portal where images and report information can be accessed remotely by our clients. Depending up on the scope of our instruction these images are typically supported with reports which can review the project programme and progress programmes, analyse and update progress programmes, and analyse the critical path, the critical delay(s) and compile reports and schedules detailing the current state of progress and the critical areas in subsequent months and through to project completion.

As the success of PPM grew and we enhanced our reputation another trend through our instructions became apparent.Having initially received instructions almost exclusively from the main contracting sector, our client base diversified to include Specialist Contractors,Employers, Stakeholders and Sponsors. We are much closer to a 50 / 50 split between the Contractor and the Employer and have even received ‘joint instructions’ to provide an independent ‘real time’ assessment to issues of time, money and quality.

When it comes to construction projects there can often be widely differing opinions between parties in respect of overall progress and the impact of (i) sub-contractor progress; (ii) client design changes and the timing of same; (iii) supply chain problems, and (iv) other external factors. Such impact tends to be amplified, and the grounds for dispute more furtive, on larger and more complex projects. Administering the impact of these events, and demonstrating entitlement to such issues, on live projects can be problematic but from extensive experience, is magnified exponentially once the project is complete and issues rumble on. Records become fragmented, memories become hazy, people move on to other projects or other companies altogether leaving the evidence gathering for dispute administration a tricky proposition in many cases.

PPM instructions have increasingly become a ‘safety net’ on particularly large and complex schemes. Providing a regular, formalised focus on capturing progress of the works in a quasi-independent process, allowing our client regular virtual time slice visuals and narrative updates on progress, performance, change, quality and external issues. These techniques allow real time decisions to be made for the benefit of both the project and the instructing party.

The little boy who’s birthday party it was, will be nearly 25 years old now, and just as he has developed so has the PPM team.

We employ individuals with extensive construction, quantity surveying, programming, delay analysis and contractual experience providing an all-round depth of understanding and insight in numerous construction sectors representing all parties to a construction contract. ThePPM service is now a well established core service provided by Pyments as part of its “one-stop-shop” for all commercial and contractual issues within the construction industry.

It's been quite a journey so far and I’m sure there are still many more projects to come. To discuss further exciting PPM developments and to understand how we can benefit you project please contact Andy Green (Senior Project Monitoring Analyst) and / or Gordon Connell (Managing Director).

July 4, 2025