What does NEC4 clause 60.1(10) mean?

In the NEC4 main contract the Supervisor gives the instruction to search. On an NEC subcontract your main contractor does. The one exception is where the search was needed only because you gave too little notice of work that covered up a required test or inspection. Then you pay for the search, whatever it finds. Put simply, if the suspicion was wrong, the other side pays for testing it. If you covered up work it was entitled to inspect, you pay for uncovering it. To rely on the clause, show the instruction to search, what the search involved, and the recorded outcome showing no Defect. Where a Defect was found in part of the search, only the part where none was found counts. Also show you gave the notice the Scope required before covering the work, because the exception turns on it. The event comes from an instruction, so your main contractor should notify it. But the outcome is not known until the search is finished. So in practice, notify under clause 61.3 as soon as the search closes with nothing found, rather than wait. The change to the Prices, your contract price, is assessed under clause 63.1. It is the effect of the instruction on actual Defined Cost for work done by its date. Add forecast Defined Cost for work still to do, plus the Fee. That covers opening up, testing, making good and standing time. What goes wrong most is that nobody gets the written record of the outcome. An argument then follows about whether something minor found in the search was a Defect. Any delay to the Completion Date is assessed separately under clause 63, and that is a job for your planner.