Emmolina May

This Monday, when the Government released modelling suggesting diesel prices in New Zealand could potentially reach $5 per litre during a severe supply disruption, I was not actually surprised. What surprised me more was the thought that came immediately afterwards: If I could already see this coming… can we still call it an “unforeseen event”? That question stayed with me all week. Treasury modelling released alongside the Government’s updated fuel resilience framework suggested diesel...

Most financial losses in construction projects don’t come from major disputes or headline-grabbing claims. Instead, they often stem from small, everyday decisions made on site by teams who lack commercial awareness. These decisions might seem minor at the time, missing a notice deadline, failing to document an instruction properly, or accepting variations informally, but over the life of a project, they add up to significant financial loss. Having worked closely with construction teams and...

Delays are expected on construction projects. Acceleration is often presented as the solution. But what is less discussed is what happens in between. The moment when a project moves from entitlement to recovery. From claiming time to giving it back. This is where Extension of Time (EOT) meets acceleration. And this is where risk quietly shifts. This week, I was working with a contractor on a claim that sat precisely in that space. The project had experienced a series of delays, some of which...