Can I claim the cost of accelerating my subcontract works?
Extra labour or weekend working is not automatically recoverable. Establish why acceleration is needed, who authorised it and the contractual basis for payment.
Updated: . By Jack Butler-Kettle, Construction Claims Consultant.
The answer
Record the requested completion date, proposed measures, assumptions, revised programme and price before committing. Distinguish an agreed earlier finish from measures needed to recover your own delay. NEC’s published guidance on detailing acceleration costs explains the consensual quotation process in the NEC3 Engineering and Construction Contract. That main-contract example is not a universal rule for every subcontract: check your actual form, edition and amendments. Keep acceleration quotations separate from compensation-event assessments unless the agreed mechanism requires otherwise. If you are being pressed to accelerate because a time extension has not been decided, obtain advice from your representative before treating the pressure as an instruction or incurring disputed cost. We assess the commercial evidence with your planner and representative.
Example
Illustrative example. The scenario and figures are invented.
The facts
A subcontractor is asked to finish two weeks earlier by adding a weekend shift.
What happens
- Its quotation identifies the additional hours, supervision and plant, together with the programme assumptions and proposed price.
- The team records whether the proposal is accepted and keeps the extra resources separate from the original work.
The outcome
There is a clear record of the request, agreement and additional expenditure. A request for a quotation is not presented as acceptance of the work or price.
Our Delay & Disruption Claim service assesses the additional costs and supporting records; Extension of Time Support supports the programme evidence prepared with your planner.
Sources
- Detailing acceleration costs (NEC3 ECC example). NEC Contracts.