Fixed price building contract — Christchurch earthquake — insurance — new building standard — NBS — variation of build contract. The plaintiff sought $34,057.94, plus interest, for two outstanding progress claims pursuant to a fixed price building contract. The defendants' building was damaged in the Christchurch earthquake and the plaintiff was ultimately engaged to identify the damage, scope and estimate the cost of repairs. The parties entered into a "Fixed Price Short Form" contract and the defendants paid a deposit of $7,818.00. However, the engineer engaged by the plaintiff subsequently identified an error in the initial detailed engineering evaluation (that the building was only 7 per cent new building standard ("NBS"), not 40 per cent). Following consultation, the parties agreed to the engineer making further designs, which the plaintiff contended was a Variation of the Works under the contract. Council consent was granted in May 2015. However, the defendants applied to Council to withdraw building consent in August 2015. The plaintiff issued two invoices for progress payments in the sum of $20,511.40 and $11,695.00, respectively, and no challenge was made to those invoices within the contractual period of five working days. The defendants argued they were not liable for this as there was no variation of the build contract. The Judge reviewed the evidence given by the parties, their correspondence and subsequent conduct, and found that on the balance of probabilities the defendants agreed the engineer would perform additional investigation and design work and that agreement was a variation to the building contract. The Judge found the defendant an unreliable witness, concluding that even if the defendant did not expressly consent, he did so implicitly based on his conduct. The Judge ordered the defendants pay the sum of $34,057.94, plus $9,669.04 in interest, as well as legal costs, additional costs and witness expenses. Judgment Date: 22 June 2018.