Skip to content
Quantsurv
Get in touch

Make your quote's exclusions part of the subcontract

The exclusions and assumptions in your quote protect you only if the subcontract names them as part of the deal. Check the list of subcontract documents before you sign, and ask for your quote, or its exclusions, to be named in it.

Updated: . By Jack Butler-Kettle, Construction Claims Consultant.

Why it matters

Your quote is priced on its exclusions and assumptions: no out of hours working, the main contractor's scaffold, a set number of visits. The subcontract often lists its own documents. It then adds a clause saying those documents are the whole agreement and replace everything that went before. If your quote is not on the list, its exclusions may not be part of the deal. The work you excluded then becomes an argument about whether it was ever priced. Whether a document left off the list still counts is a question for your solicitor. Getting it on the list before you sign avoids the question.

How to do it

  1. Find the subcontract's list of contract documents and any clause saying the subcontract is the whole agreement.
  2. Check whether your quote, identified by its date and reference, or its exclusions and assumptions, are on the list.
  3. Ask for them to be added if they are not, or for the exclusions to be copied into a schedule of the subcontract.
  4. Check the order of precedence, which says which document wins when two disagree, so a specification or drawing cannot override the exclusions.
  5. Price the excluded items before you sign if the main contractor refuses.

Example

Illustrative example. The scenario and figures are invented.

The facts

A decorating subcontractor quotes £185,000 for a residential block, excluding weekend working and the protection of finished floors. The subcontract lists the specification and drawings as its documents, not the quote, and says it is the whole agreement.

What happens

  1. The subcontractor finds that its exclusions are missing from the subcontract documents.
  2. It asks for its quote, by date and reference, to be added to the list. It also asks for the two exclusions to be set out in a schedule.
  3. The main contractor agrees to the schedule but not to the whole quote.

The outcome

The exclusions are signed into the subcontract. In the last month the main contractor instructs weekend working. The £11,200 it costs is valued as a variation, with the schedule to point to.

To have this set up for you, see our Pre-Signing Contract Review service.