Bills & e-Bills
Precedent S electronic bills with clean phase coding and persuasive narratives that move numbers, ready for detailed assessment.
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Bill of costs drafting,
every phase recovered.
We draw the bill of costs. Precedent S electronic bills, Points of Dispute and Replies, budgets, N260s and negotiation to settlement — drafting-only support for solicitor firms, on the standard basis, with no advocacy and no lay clients. DMD Costs provides costs drafting and negotiation for claimant firms; this page sets out each service in detail, starting with the bill.
Core costs services
Points of Dispute & Replies
We target the usual cuts — rates, duplication, surveyor, bundles — and draft Replies that prove necessity and protect entitlement.
Precedent H / R / T Budgeting
Costs budgets with assumptions built to survive the CCMC, plus Precedent R variances and Precedent T applications.
N260s & Summary Assessment
Statements of costs for interim applications, with summary-assessment tactics and wording that lands first time.
Part 8 & Costs-Only (CPR 46.14)
Settled damages but costs outstanding? We run costs-only proceedings — N252, electronic bill and DA timetable.
Negotiation to Settlement
Staged Part 36 offers and settlement wording designed to recover every recoverable penny — or DA-ready papers if needed.
Sector strengths
Three arenas we know cold.
HDR
Housing Disrepair
Standard-basis recovery across the full HDR lifecycle — from pre-action conduct to detailed assessment.
Explore HDR costs →- ›Damp & mould claims
Awaab's Law breaches turned into recoverable costs.
- ›Access & vulnerability
Surveyor cycles and vulnerability factored into entitlement.
- ›ADR conduct
Protocol discipline and Part 36 timing that protect recovery.
- ›Pre-action & DCCs
CPR 47.9 Default Costs Certificates and the 21-day play.
NIHL
MoD NIHL
Military noise-induced hearing-loss claims, with matrix-aligned damages and full standard-basis costs.
Explore NIHL costs →- ›Service-records disclosure
Time properly captured and evidenced for recovery.
- ›Audiology & occ-hygiene experts
Expert cycles costed and defended at assessment.
- ›Matrix alignment
Damages on the matrix; costs on the standard basis.
- ›Costs-only routes
CPR 46.14 where damages settle but costs remain.
CLIN-NEG
Clinical Negligence
Outsourced clinical negligence costs — Precedent H budgeting through to bills, Precedent S and detailed assessment.
Explore Clin-Neg costs →- ›Precedent H budgeting
Assumptions and phasing built to survive the CCMC.
- ›Breach & causation work
Expert-heavy chronologies costed and justified line by line.
- ›Expert fee recovery
Multiple disciplines tied to the pleaded issues and settlement.
- ›Precedent S & assessment
Clean electronic bills aligned to the approved budget.
How instruction works
What happens when you instruct DMD Costs
Instructions are sent to us through the DMD Costs Portal. Your firm submits the matter, sends us the relevant papers, and everything relating to the costs instruction stays in one place.
What we need from the file
For a housing disrepair matter we normally need the complete file rather than a small selection of documents. Depending on the stage the case has reached, that may include:
- the funding documents
- correspondence, attendance notes and time records
- expert evidence
- disbursement invoices or fee notes
- offers, and the settlement agreement or order
- the relevant fee-earner details and hourly rates
What we establish first
Before anything else we establish what you need us to do and where the matter has reached. That may be preparation of a Bill of Costs or Precedent S, reviewing an offer, Points of Dispute and Replies, costs negotiations, or support with costs-only proceedings.
What we check before drafting
We check the costs entitlement, the settlement or order, the funding position, the period being claimed, the fee earners and rates, VAT, disbursements and the overall chronology. If something important is missing or unclear, we go back to the instructing solicitor rather than filling in the gaps ourselves.
What holds files up
Four things account for most delay, and all four are easier to send at the start than to chase later:
| Missing item | Effect |
|---|---|
| Funding documents | The costs entitlement cannot be established. |
| Final settlement or order | The basis and the period being claimed are unresolved. |
| Disbursement invoices or counsel’s fee notes | Disbursements cannot be drawn or supported. |
| Clear fee-earner and hourly-rate information | Rates cannot be applied to the right grades. |
On larger files, incomplete time records or missing correspondence can also affect the Bill materially.
Fee and turnaround
We agree the fee before work starts and confirm the scope of the instruction. First drafts are normally returned within five working days of complete papers, unless a different turnaround has been agreed with you beforehand.
What comes back
For a Bill instruction, the draft is returned to you for review and approval. If Points of Dispute follow, we can continue with the matter by preparing Replies where appropriate and dealing with negotiations through to settlement.
If the instructions are unclear, the costs entitlement cannot be established, or the papers are too incomplete to prepare the work properly, we tell you what is needed before proceeding.
DMD Costs Portal
Manage your costs instructions in one place
Send new instructions through the DMD Costs Portal, follow the progress of existing matters and request updates without having to chase by email. Once a matter is with us, you do not have to keep emailing to find out what is happening.
The portal is also available as a mobile app, so your team can keep track of their DMD instructions from their phone as well as through the web.
Open the portal →How we price
A fixed fee, agreed before we start.
Send one live Housing Disrepair, MoD NIHL or clinical negligence file. We review the papers, quote a fixed fee up front, then draft the bill or e-Bill and run negotiations to settlement. No hourly billing and no surprises.
Request a fixed-fee quote →Fixed FeeSettlement-led
01 Quote before work beginsFixed
02 Bill / e-Bill draftingIncluded
03 PoDs & RepliesIncluded
04 Negotiation to settlementIncluded
Your feeAgreed up front
Payable on recovery
FAQ
The questions firms ask first.
No. DMD Costs is B2B only — we are instructed by solicitor firms and never act for tenants or lay clients. We provide drafting-only support; no advocacy.
We focus on standard-basis costs outside the Fixed Recoverable Costs regime — where careful drafting, proportionality arguments and negotiation make the biggest difference to recovery.
Standard first drafts are normally returned within five working days of receiving complete papers. Urgent turnaround can be agreed separately before instruction, and we confirm the expected delivery date when the instruction is accepted.
Yes. Whether you need a single bill or ongoing overflow capacity, we deliver fast turnaround and DA-ready work product on each matter.
DMD Costs can support instructed solicitor firms with costs-only and detailed-assessment work, including preparing the relevant costs documentation and providing delegated support through the applicable CPR 46.14 and detailed-assessment process, where instructed and appropriately supervised. The instructing solicitor retains conduct of the matter and overall responsibility for the litigation.
Unless we agree otherwise in writing, our agreed fee is payable when your firm receives the recovered costs from the paying party.
Working through a recovery now? Our stage-by-stage costs recovery checklist runs from settlement wording to assessment, with the CPR 47 deadlines that decide outcomes set out at each stage.
Budget due before a CCMC? Precedent H, the assumptions behind each phase, Precedent R reports and Precedent T variations are prepared across all three practice areas — see costs budgeting.
Not sure whether you need a costs draftsman or a Costs Lawyer? One is a regulated title carrying rights of audience and the other is not, and the difference decides less than most firms expect. We set it out, including which one DMD Costs is.
Who does the work
Named practitioners, not a queue.
Bills are drafted by the practitioner named on the file, not passed to whoever is free. Housing disrepair and MoD NIHL costs are led by Mentor Nika; clinical negligence and budgeting work is subject to senior technical review by Diellza Nika, Managing Director.
20+ years' combined legal-costs experience at leadership level between them. The technical guidance published here is written by the same people who draw the bills, which means you can read the work before you instruct rather than taking a claim of expertise on trust.
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Ready when you are
Outsource the costs. Keep the claim.
Talk to our team about a single bill, overflow capacity, or your next file to settlement — with a fixed fee agreed before we start.
New to DMD Costs? Ask us about trying us on one file.