Own The Build
Own the Build is the podcast for Quantity Surveyors and Commercial Directors who want to sharpen their commercial edge and lead with confidence.
Hosted by Paul Heming, former Commercial leader and now co-founder of C-Link, each week’s conversation dives into the realities of modern commercial management — from procurement and contracts to digital transformation and leadership in construction.
Through honest discussions with industry leaders, forensic planners, and forward-thinking QSs, Paul explores how the best commercial teams deliver profit, performance, and project certainty in a changing industry.
If you’re serious about mastering the commercial side of construction — this is where you build your advantage.
Own The Build
Rewriting the Rules: How Laing O’Rourke is Transforming Construction Contracts (EP 259)
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In this episode, Paul is joined by Kate Kennedy, Head of Legal Bids and Contract Transformation at Laing O’Rourke, to explore a bold idea: what if construction contracts were actually easy to understand?
Kate is leading an industry-first initiative to rethink how construction contracts are written, used and negotiated — starting with a simple premise: most people working on projects don’t understand the contracts they’re expected to deliver.
Drawing on global research and collaboration with the not-for-profit World Commerce & Contracting, Laing O’Rourke is piloting a simplified subcontract designed to be clearer, shorter and far more practical for the people actually using it on site.
In this conversation, Paul and Kate explore:
- why construction contracts have become so complex over the last 40 years;
- the surprising statistic that 88% of business users struggle to understand their contracts;
- how redesigning contracts with diagrams, timelines and clearer structure can transform how projects operate;
- why simplification must come before the bigger challenge of fairer risk allocation; and
- how industry-wide collaboration between contractors could finally drive meaningful contract reform.
The goal isn’t just shorter contracts — it’s better outcomes for clients, contractors and supply chains alike.
A fascinating look at how one Tier 1 contractor is attempting to shift the industry towards simpler, more collaborative and outcome-focused contracting.
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📥 Plus: Grab Paul’s free new eBook Mastering Construction Procurement — link below:
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Want to connect with Paul?
Paul is on Linkedin here and would love to talk. You can also connect with Paul at paul@c-link.com or through, C-Link.
C-Link is software built by Quantity Surveyors for Quantity Surveyors. We save 600 hours of Quantity Surveying time per project in automation. We can make your QS’ so much more efficient.
Watch the Video to learn more; you can book a demo by clicking here.
