Assessing a Contractor's claim: six steps for the Engineer

1. Check the time bars first

Was the Notice of Claim given within 28 days of the Contractor becoming aware of the event (20.2.1)? If the Engineer considers it late, he must say so by Notice within 14 days (20.2.2). Was the fully detailed claim, with its contractual basis, received within 84 days (20.2.4)? Write these dates at the top of the assessment.

2. Find the clause that gives the entitlement

Clause 20 is the procedure, not the entitlement. Identify the sub-clause the claim relies on and what it allows: extension of time, Cost, or Cost Plus Profit. Many disputes start because this step was skipped.

3. Establish the facts from contemporary records

Site diaries, correspondence, photographs, labour and equipment returns kept at the time (20.2.3). Where the records are thin, ask for them in writing early; the Engineer may also instruct which records are kept.

4. Assess time against the accepted programme

An event earns an extension only if it delays completion (8.5). Test it on the accepted programme, separate the Contractor's own delay, and treat concurrent delay as the Contract provides.

5. Assess cost from records, not from claimed rates

Value what was actually incurred because of the event. Add profit only where the clause allows it, and remove costs the Contractor would have carried anyway.

6. Write it so the Parties can check it

• Each item: the figure, the reason and the record it rests on.
• What is accepted, what is rejected and why, in plain words.
• The 42-day periods of Sub-Clause 3.7.3 tracked from the date the fully detailed claim was received.

This note is general information, not legal advice for a specific contract.