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We've already signed the subcontract. Can Price Rise Loss Prevention still help on this job?

Yes, for the part that runs on site: your price terms are now fixed, but we set up the record that proves each price movement.

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

The answer

Price Rise Loss Prevention works at three points. The price basis in your quotations and the reading of the subcontract before you sign are for the jobs you price next. For a job already running, we set up the record the clause will need. Your tender prices are kept as priced, and every supplier increase notice is filed the day it arrives. Invoices are set against the tender rates, and the published index values are saved each month. The clause's notice rule goes in the job diary, so any notice it requires is given in time. Your buyer and quantity surveyor keep the record through a real month of purchases with us alongside. That proves the routine on your job before it is handed over. The optional monthly check can follow. If your subcontract has a fluctuations option or price adjustment clause, that record is what the clause will need. If it has none, the rise is usually yours, unless it came from a change your main contractor instructed or a delay it caused. The tender prices, increase notices and invoices in the record are the evidence those routes rely on.

Example

Illustrative example. The scenario and figures are invented.

The facts

A cladding subcontractor signed a JCT subcontract with the labour and materials fluctuations option 3 months ago. Its aluminium supplier has just announced an increase, and nothing has been recorded so far.

What happens

  1. The tender prices are retrieved and kept exactly as priced.
  2. The supplier's increase letter is filed with its effective date, beside the tender quote it replaces.
  3. The clause's notice rule goes into the job diary, and the notice goes to the main contractor within the week with the letter attached.
  4. The buyer and quantity surveyor keep the record through the next month of purchases, setting each invoice against the tender rate.

The outcome

The rise on this job is recorded and notified as the clause requires. The quotations for the next jobs carry a base date, a validity period and the materials to be adjusted.

To have the price basis set at tender and the record kept on your live jobs, see our Price Rise Loss Prevention service.