Adjudication 28-Day Timeline
Twenty-eight days, mapped day by day.
The adjudication process on one page, day by day from the notice of adjudication to the decision and its enforcement. Adjudication is available at any time on any construction contract, and its reputation for speed is really one for deadlines: the sheet shows where each one lands before you are inside them.
What you get
What it shows
Notice, appointment, referral
Day 0 is the notice that defines the dispute: nothing outside it can be decided. The adjudicator is appointed and the full referral served within seven days, and the 28 days run from the referral, in calendar days, weekends included.
The compressed middle
The response lands to whatever timetable the adjudicator directs, commonly seven to fourteen days, with replies and questions behind it. That window decides most adjudications: the response is built in days, from records that already exist or do not.
Decision and enforcement
The decision is due 28 days from the referral, extendable by fourteen with the referring party's consent or longer by agreement, and it binds until finally determined. Sums awarded are usually payable within days, and the courts enforce decisions summarily, even ones they think are wrong.
A guidance sheet as a one-page A4 PDF: print it, pin it up, or keep it with the contract file. Your contract's terms come first.
Related paid help
Facing one of these clocks, or about to start one? That is Adjudication Support & Claims Preparation.