When a construction payment goes unpaid, the law gives you a fast route — and a running clock.
Teoh Danaraj & Partners acts only in construction disputes. We recover unpaid progress payments through statutory adjudication under CIPAA 2012, and we run the arbitrations and court proceedings that decide the rest — for contractors, employers, developers, consultants and subcontractors across Malaysia.
A contentious-only construction practice. We are on one side of these disputes every day — which side you are on determines the strategy, but never the rigour.
Map your statutory timeline in seconds
Enter the date the payment claim is served and your role. We compute every CIPAA deadline in working days — payment response, notice of adjudication, appointment, submissions and the decision — so you know exactly what the next weeks require.
Deadlines are counted in working days (Saturdays and Sundays excluded). Gazetted public holidays are not deducted here and may push a deadline out by one or more days — always confirm the exact date for a live matter. This planner is a guide to the statutory framework under CIPAA 2012 and is not legal advice.
How a CIPAA adjudication runs
Five statutory stages, each on a fixed number of working days. A payment dispute becomes a binding, enforceable decision in about 100 working days.
-
01
Day 0
Payment claim
The unpaid party serves a payment claim under s.5.
-
02
+10 working days
Payment response
The paying party admits or disputes; silence = deemed dispute.
-
03
~15 working days
Notice & appointment
Notice of adjudication; adjudicator agreed or AIAC-appointed.
-
04
+25 working days
Submissions
Adjudication claim, response and reply exchanged.
-
05
~100 working days
Decision
Binding, enforceable decision on the payment dispute.
Six kinds of construction dispute
From the fast statutory recovery of a payment to the arbitration that settles a final account, we work across the full life of a construction dispute.
CIPAA statutory adjudication
Fast statutory recovery of unpaid progress payments under the Construction Industry Payment and Adjudication Act 2012 — from the payment claim to enforcement of the decision.
Explore 02Construction arbitration
Domestic and AIAC-administered arbitration under the PAM, PWD (JKR), CIDB and FIDIC forms — from notice of arbitration to award and enforcement.
Explore 03Delay, disruption & extension-of-time claims
Extension-of-time, prolongation, disruption and loss-and-expense claims — built on rigorous programme analysis that survives cross-examination.
Explore 04Defects & final account disputes
Disputes over defective work, variations, measurement and the final account — the money that gets fought over at the end of a project.
Explore 05Contract advisory & risk
Advice on construction contracts, payment mechanisms and dispute clauses before the dispute — so the paperwork protects you when it matters.
Explore 06Enforcement & setting-aside
Turning adjudication decisions and arbitral awards into money — and resisting or bringing applications to set them aside or stay enforcement.
ExploreBuilt around the statutory regime, since it began
We opened in 2014, the year CIPAA came into force, and have run construction disputes on both sides ever since.
Acted for a main contractor in an AIAC-administered arbitration arising from a delayed mixed-development project, involving overlapping extension-of-time, prolongation and defects claims under the PAM form.
Recovered outstanding progress payments for a mechanical-and-electrical subcontractor within a single adjudication cycle, and enforced the decision under s.28 CIPAA.
Prepared and argued an extension-of-time and loss-and-expense claim on a hospital project turning on concurrent employer and neutral delay events.
Resisted a stay of enforcement of an adjudication decision pending arbitration, securing payment of the adjudicated sum to the unpaid party.
Model your LAD & delay exposure
Liquidated ascertained damages bite on net delay — after extensions of time. Enter the contract sum, the LAD basis and the delay to see the exposure, with the s.75 and Cubic Electronics caveats that decide what is actually recoverable.
This is an arithmetical estimate of the contractual LAD, not an entitlement. Under s.75 of the Contracts Act 1950 the sum recoverable is reasonable compensation; following Cubic Electronics v Mars Telecommunications [2018] the stipulated rate is the starting point, and it is for the party challenging it to show it is unreasonable. Net delay after extensions of time — not the raw delay — is what LAD is levied on. Not legal advice.
Engineers and advocates in equal measure
Our partners read the drawings and the programme as closely as the contract. That literacy is what keeps a construction case from getting lost in translation.
What the independent directories say
Under the Bar’s Publicity Rules we do not publish client testimonials or claim to be the “best”. Instead, here is how the independent legal directories rank the firm.
A boutique “that lives and breathes construction disputes”, singled out for statutory adjudication and payment recovery under CIPAA.
Sources note the team’s “engineering literacy” and its ability to “move at the speed the statutory timeline demands”.
Recommended for construction and infrastructure disputes, with particular strength in adjudication and delay claims.
Listed for construction and arbitration, with two partners noted for statutory adjudication.
Notes from the practice
Practical writing on adjudication, delay and construction contracts — for the people who have to make decisions under the clock.
The 100-day clock: how a CIPAA adjudication actually runs
From payment claim to decision, statutory adjudication runs on a fixed set of working-day deadlines. Miss one and you can lose a good claim on procedure. Here is the timeline, step by step.
Serve the payment claim right, or lose the adjudication before it starts
The payment claim is the foundation of every adjudication. Get its contents, its service and its timing right, and half the battle is won before the adjudicator is even appointed.
LAD after Cubic Electronics: what employers and contractors get wrong
Liquidated ascertained damages are not the automatic deduction many employers assume, nor the unenforceable penalty many contractors hope for. The Federal Court’s Cubic Electronics decision recalibrated both positions.
A payment claim just landed? The clock has already started.
Construction disputes run on deadlines — statutory and contractual. Tell us where you are and we will tell you, plainly, what your position is and what the next working days require. The first conversation is complimentary.