THE chairman of a construction firm in Huddersfield is “boycotting” one of its biggest customers – and sacrificing millions of pounds in potential orders – in protest at payment policies he says risk putting suppliers out of business.

Steven Sutherland from glazing specialist Dortech said he was prepared to “take a hit” by refusing to work for construction giant Balfour Beatty which accounted for about 40% of Dortech’s £12m turnover last year.

Mr Sutherland claimed that Dortech, which has carried out more than 80 projects for Balfour Beatty over a 13-year period, had more than £100,000 “withheld” by the customer on recent projects.

He said Dortech, based at Old Fieldhouse Lane, off Leeds Road, had made efforts to contact Balfour Beatty on 30 occasions by phone and email to discuss the issue, but the calls were not being acknowledged.

Withholding notices are intended to be used by construction contractors where there is a disagreement over the valuation of a sub-contractor’s work.

But sub-contractors complain that this process is often used as a way to reduce the value of bills and delay payment regardless of the quality of the work or pricing.

Mr Sutherland said that pursuing a claim for payment on contracts “in dispute” could end up costing a sub-contractor more in legal charges than the value of the contract itself.

Mr Sutherland said there were some “wonderful” people working for Balfour Beatty and said he recognised that they were under pressure to cut costs.

But he said: “We are talking about Balfour Beatty because they are the market leader. If the market leader is behaving like this, others in the market will follow on.”

Mr Sutherland, who has raised the issue with the Department for Business Innovation and Skills, said the solution to the problem lay with government.

“Figures suggest that every £1 the government puts into construction generates £2.80 for the UK economy, but if that money isn’t getting past the main contractors we will not see that growth,” he said.

“There needs to be a mechanism whereby companies can be measured on their payment policies and if they are not paying promptly they will not be awarded Government contracts.”

Mr Sutherland said Dortech, which employs about 50 staff, was already taking measures to diversify as part of efforts to ride out the economic downturn.

“There are still a lot of decent businesses and decent people out there and we will continue to work with those companies,” he said.

“We are also diversifying with an internet trading site, maintenance work and supply-only service which are all growing.”

A statement by Balfour Beatty said: “Balfour Beatty has had a long standing valued relationship with Dortech, spanning many projects over 13 years.

“Dortech has recently completed six schools under the BSF programme with Balfour Beatty. These contracts were completed in August 2012, with the last of these accounts agreed early in November, 2012.

“Balfour Beatty is committed to its supply chain and is at the forefront of Government and industry initiatives supporting the wellbeing of our suppliers.”

Dortech has 20 years experience as a specialist glazing contractor – having manufactured more than £130m of windows, doors and curtain walling for schemes including schools, factories, offices and buildings at Huddersfield University’s Queensgate campus.