Skip to content
Quantsurv
Get in touch

Ask for the few amendments that move the most money

A short, costed list of changes gets read and answered, while a list of forty objections tends to get a single reply: no. Rate each clause by its cost on this job, ask for the few that matter and price the rest.

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

Why it matters

Main contractors see long lists of comments on every package, and a long list is easy to refuse as a whole. A short list reads as a commercial case, with each item's cost to you and the wording you propose. Each item then gets decided on its merits. Put on it the clauses that move money or risk onto you in a way you cannot price. Typical ones are pay-when-paid wording, uncapped delay damages, set-off for losses on other contracts and time bars on notices.

How to do it

  1. List every clause that moves money or risk onto you, with a one-line note of what it does.
  2. Estimate what each could cost on this job: a financing cost for payment and retention terms, a realistic worst case for damages and deductions.
  3. Rate each high, medium or low, and pick the high ones.
  4. For each, write the wording you want and a fallback you would accept.
  5. Send them as one short schedule, and price the clauses you did not ask to change.

Example

Illustrative example. The scenario and figures are invented.

The facts

A plastering subcontractor's review of a £390,000 subcontract finds 23 clauses it would change.

What happens

  1. The subcontractor costs each one. The 60 day payment period costs about £2,900 in financing. Uncapped delay damages put £85,000 at risk on a 4 week overrun. A right to set off losses on other contracts has no limit at all.
  2. It rates five as high and sends them as one schedule, each with proposed wording and a fallback.
  3. It prices or accepts the other 18.
  4. The main contractor accepts a £39,000 cap on delay damages and removes the set-off across other contracts. It offers 45 days for payment against the 30 asked for.

The outcome

Three of the five high-rated clauses are settled before signing, and the rest of the risk is in the price. The subcontractor signs with its largest exposure capped at £39,000, 10 per cent of the package.

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