China construction disputes often turn on records that change or disappear: site conditions, incomplete work, personnel, electronic systems, payment flows and assets. Identify the contract, forum, claim, live deadline and threatened evidence before taking a position on liability.
Preserve the project state proportionately. Collect original schedules, instructions, measurements, tests, payment records and communications; consider court evidence or asset preservation where later recovery or proof is genuinely at risk.
Subject to editorial and legal review. Obtain urgent PRC advice for expiring claims, threatened asset dissipation, contractor exit, unsafe work or evidence destruction.
Triage the dispute
Map parties, contracts, guarantees, claims, counterclaims, sums, project status and desired outcome. Separate payment, delay, variation, defect, termination, tender-validity and subcontract issues.
Protect notices and deadlines
Calculate contractual notices, limitation, arbitration or court filing, guarantee demand and construction-price priority periods. Send compliant notices without overstating facts or waiving rights.
Build the evidence file
Preserve executed contracts, approvals, drawings, instructions, daily records, schedules, measurements, tests, invoices, certificates, photos, messages and native electronic files. Record provenance, collection and custody.
Fix the physical state
Use joint surveys, video, photographs, samples, measurements and expert protocols before repair, demolition or contractor departure. Interpretation (II), effective June 30, 2026, expressly recognises applications for evidence preservation before exit after termination.
Evidence and asset preservation
Define the evidence or property precisely, explain urgency and necessity, identify the competent court, and prepare required security. Seek the least disruptive effective measure; an overbroad application can delay works and create exposure.
Expert appraisal
Frame disputed technical or valuation questions narrowly. Preserve baseline information and test the expert’s qualifications, method, assumptions, site access and data. Distinguish quality, quantity, price and delay questions.
Choose court or arbitration
Verify the dispute clause, parties, scope, seat or institution and any exclusive court rules. China’s revised Arbitration Law took effect March 1, 2026. Coordinate interim measures with the competent court even where the merits proceed in arbitration.
Payment and priority
Reconcile work, quality, measurement, certification, invoices, set-off, retention and final account. Analyse the Civil Code construction-price priority right, its protected amount, relevant asset and running exercise period before settlement or assignment.
Quality and repair claims
Give a documented defect notice and reasonable repair opportunity. The 2026 interpretation generally rejects advance repair-cost recovery where the contractor was not first notified, while allowing reasonable cost after refusal or failure to repair.
Settlement and enforcement
Define payment, work completion, access, repair, release, guarantees, tax documents, confidentiality and default consequences. Use an enforceable form and preserve routes to assets; a commercial settlement is incomplete without performance security and closure mechanics.
Working-file checklist
- Contract and forum map.
- Deadline and notice register.
- Claim and counterclaim schedule.
- Native project records and custody log.
- Site-state and expert evidence.
- Preservation target and security.
- Payment, asset and guarantee map.
- Settlement and enforcement plan.
Official sources
- Supreme People’s Court: Construction Contract Interpretation (II)
- Supreme People’s Court: Construction Contract Interpretation (I)
- National People’s Congress: Arbitration Law
- Supreme People’s Court: Civil Evidence Provisions
- Supreme People’s Court: Civil Code
Law checked: September 11, 2026. Current official texts, forum rules and case-specific orders control.
