Construction Claims Distance Learning Course | A Graduate’s Perspective

When I enrolled on the Claims Class Distance Learning Course, I was approaching 10 years of experience. During that time I had dealt with claims on both sides of the fence, with a reasonable degree of success, so I was by no means a novice.

So why did I enrol on the Distance Learning Course? I have seen claims presented in all shapes and sizes, good and bad.  I too have been guilty of structuring claims or responses in different ways, simply because I was unaware of a tried and tested method.  Knowing that this was something that I could improve on, I went in search of the answer and stumbled across the core text for the course: Construction Claims & Responses – effective writing & presentation, which goes through the preparation of a claim from A to Z in minute detail. I was that satisfied with the book that I decided to enrol on the Distance Learning Course.

The course consists of seven modules which are cleverly structured so that what I learned during the early modules was subtly put into practice in subsequent modules. This helped to reaffirm the knowledge and techniques learned previously; but in no way did the course feel repetitive. The course is predominantly based on case studies which I could relate my own experiences to. Therefore, as a by-product of completing the course, it certainly got me thinking about how I could have managed situations from my own working life more effectively.

A brief word about my tutor Andy Hewitt.  With almost 40 years of experience under his belt, it is fair to say that he knows his stuff inside out. But equally as important, he’s a natural teacher and has a knack of explaining the course content succinctly.

It is worth noting that Claims Class allows you to defer the issue for each module for as long as you wish.  I took advantage of this on two occasions, so much so that I hold the unwanted record for taking the longest to complete the course.  The point is, I was able to fit the course around my life and not the other way around.

Claims Class states:

“…on completion of the course, you will have gained a thorough understanding of construction claims and how to confidently present or respond to them in an effective manner.” 

This is certainly true in my case and I am in no doubt that any claims or responses that I produce after this course will be a significant improvement on what I wrote before.

This review was written by Peter Burford who graduated the Construction Claims Distance Learning Course in May 2016. For more information, visit Distance Learning on our website or, download the brochure.