What happens if I miss the 8 week deadline for a compensation event?
You may lose the change to your price and dates, but whether you do depends on your subcontract's exact wording, its exceptions and the facts.
Updated: . By Jack Butler-Kettle, Construction Claims Consultant.
For how the eight-week rule and its exception work in an unamended contract, see how NEC4 clause 61.3 works.
The answer
In the unamended NEC4 form, if you do not notify within 8 weeks of becoming aware of the event, you lose that change. The exception is an event your main contractor should have notified itself, such as one arising from its own instruction. But do not assume 8 weeks applies to every NEC subcontract. Amendments often change the period or the exceptions. Equally, do not assume every instruction is automatically exempt. So act now. Put the event, the date you first became aware, any instruction or notification relied on, the parties and the dates in one list. Set the actual clause beside it. Keep all the correspondence, and get advice quickly on the rule that applies, any exception and what you can still do. Do not treat the event as automatically lost, or as automatically worth a discounted deal.
Example
Illustrative example. The scenario and figures are invented.
The facts
A subcontractor thinks it has missed the 8 week deadline for notifying a compensation event. It needs to know what its subcontract actually requires before deciding what the miss means.
What happens
- The list shows the event, the first recorded awareness, the instruction or notification relied on, the parties and the dates.
- The actual clause goes beside that list, and anything open to interpretation is marked for advice.
- The NEC4 main contract wording is not applied unchanged to the subcontract.
The outcome
The dates and the clause sit side by side with the open questions marked, so the advice is given on the actual dates and wording.
Our Compensation Event Claim can compare the event, the notification record and the contract that applies.