Gary Eden
3/5
During this review, I am going to state the facts regarding my experience with using the services of Richard Hildrick.
Richard is a one man band set up and has limited resources which is evident while going through the adjudication process. He persuaded me to use the services of a Quantity Surveyor he knows stating it would benefit us both to bring it all in house. In fairness, he was correct however, it cost a small fortune with the QS rate being considerably more than if I had used my freelance QS.
He will insist on a considerable payment up front before he renders his services which I did, you will get a breakdown of his costs (at some point) which are vague and was a pointless exercise.. At that point reality sets in. He will be persistent all the way through the process requesting cash payments upfront.
At no point did Richard suggest giving me a quotation or any idea of what the end cost would be. He certainly never mentioned the "No Win No Fee" service openly advertised on his website.
This was my 5th adjudication, so I was able to directly compare his services with other dispute resolution companies previously used. Having read through a copy of his referral, I felt it had been rushed and lacked diligence on his part.
All that remains to be said is Richard Hildrick represented us through the adjudication process against a medium sized main contractor and we lost 100% convincingly with the adjudicator awarding monies to the defending party also his fees 100% payable by me.
In my experience, it is false economy to think it will be cheaper using a one man outfit, they are human like the rest of us and (like the rest of us) need to seek opinions and expertise which solely is not available.
