The point here is that this is a hefty variation to the original contract which no contractor in his right senses would undertake unless the applicable variation procedures contemplated by the contract had been implemented first. With such procedures in place, if the client defaulted, Filiberti would then take immediate recourse to arbitration.

There are several other remedial measures available to Filiberti at law, and probably also under the contract in question, but the above is the very first step a professional contractor would take to safeguard its legitimate interests.

I understand, too, that there was a pretty extensive (and expensive) project management set-up on this job, but Filiberti does not say if they did their job and sought client’s prior approval of the variations that allegedly occurred.