Compensation Event Claim
ClaimTimetable agreed at scoping
NEC events refused, undervalued or ignored? We check the reasons, rebuild the prices and pursue agreement.
Updated: . By Jack Butler-Kettle, Construction Claims Consultant.
Get a free report on your claim. About three minutes; no obligation.
The problem
Your main contractor disputes the event, says it was notified late or assesses it well below your quotation. Submissions may remain unanswered or be left for the final account, leaving the value unresolved.
Non-NEC job? See Variation Claim.
The solution
We protect running deadlines, test each event and rebuild quotations using the contract’s cost rules. You approve what goes in your name; we negotiate and prepare adjudication figures if needed.
Your planner assesses extra time and your solicitor handles legal questions. No outcome is guaranteed.
What you get
You receive an event-by-event assessment and supported quotations, with responses to refusals, reductions and unanswered submissions. A status record tracks each event, and payment checks establish whether agreed or decided sums have been paid.
Includes a Handover Pack: key dates and sources, next steps, likely responses, scope limits and any ready-to-send letters.
Fee: Fixed fee agreed in writing after we see the events. Each later stage, including adjudication support, has its own fee agreed first.
Turnaround: the timetable is agreed in writing at scoping and then kept.
How it works
Claim stage: Event
You tell us what happened
Start with a free call. Agree the scope, fixed fee and timetable in writing, then send the records listed below.
What you get: A written scope, fixed fee and timetable
- A
The subcontract
A complete PDF or scan with the Contract Data, every Z clause and the amendment schedule included.
Where to find it: The commercial folder or the order email; make sure the Z clauses come with it, they are usually a separate schedule.
Why we need it: The Z clauses routinely rewrite the compensation event machinery, including the 8-week time bar itself, so the recovery has to run on your subcontract, not the standard form.
How we will use it: It sets the rules we test every notification against, the periods we check each event on, and the cost rules each quotation is rebuilt to.
- B
The notifications, quotations and replies for each event
In their native form: emails, portal exports or documents, with their dates, including your main contractor's replies and own assessments.
Where to find it: The project's communication system if the subcontract runs one, otherwise the inboxes of whoever notifies and quotes.
Why we need it: Whether each notification was made in time and in the right form, and what the main contractor said in reply, decide how each event is rated.
How we will use it: The notification is tested for time and form, and the quotation and the reply are what the rebuild takes apart component by component.
- C
The correspondence around each event
Everything around each event, forwarded as the original emails, dates, recipients and attachments intact.
Where to find it: The threads between your team and your main contractor's project team; forward them whole.
Why we need it: Early warnings, instructions and the moment each event became apparent all live here, and the 8 weeks run from awareness.
How we will use it: We fix each event's awareness date from it, with the evidence beside it.
- D
The cost records behind each event
Timesheets, plant hire records, supplier and subcontractor invoices and quotations, as they are kept.
Where to find it: The site office, your payroll and your accounts team.
Why we need it: The quotation is rebuilt from the Schedule of Cost Components, and every component has to trace to a record your main contractor can check.
How we will use it: Each rebuilt quotation cites the records behind it, with actual and forecast cost kept apart.
- E
The Accepted Programme and any time position
As issued: native planning files or PDFs, with acceptance status if known, and your planner's view of each event's time effect.
Where to find it: Your planner holds the files; the acceptance correspondence sits in the email trail with your main contractor.
Why we need it: A quotation includes any delay to the dates, and time-related cost depends on it.
How we will use it: We take the time position from your planner and credit it to them. We price the cost that follows from it, and do not assess the delay.
Copies are fine. Send what you have and we will tell you what's missing.
- A
Claim stages: Notice, Entitlement, Evidence, Quantum and Assembly
We check each event and rebuild the price
We protect any deadline still running, then check each event's dates and evidence. You choose which to press, and we rebuild their prices from your records.
What you get: A short report, and each rebuilt price ready to go in your name
You approve what goes out
Nothing goes to your main contractor until you have read it and said yes. You can drop or narrow any event, and it goes in your name.
Claim stage: Resolution
We get your events agreed
We answer each reason in the reply with the evidence, and negotiate the rest. If no reply comes, silence after a notice can count as acceptance where your subcontract says so.
What you get: A written record of each event agreed, and the options on any still open
We prepare for adjudication, if it comes to that
If a strong event still will not move, you can take it to adjudication, and we prepare the figures. At the end we check every result reaches your payments.
What you get: The figures and evidence for the adjudication
We close out and price what the gaps cost
Get a free report on your claim
Answer the questions below for a free PDF report by email. Allow about three minutes; choose “Not sure” where needed.
Your report explains where you stand, the next steps to take and the records to gather. It also sets out how we could help for a fixed fee, with no obligation.
Loading the questions.
Prevent it next time
Put a routine in place to reduce the risk of this happening again. Compensation Event Loss Prevention.