We are a subcontractor who normally operates under an nec 4 ecs option a subcontract agreement. About 95% of the time, contractors drop new drawings in to doc control and don’t bother notifying a ce when it’s clear that new work has been added.
We would typically notify under 60.1.1 that the work added may have time or cost impact and then check drawings for added work. We estimate what the costs will be typically using agreed rates and fees and give a narrative for why we believe it to be a change.
We very often get our quotes ignored, end up doing the work for fear of bursting completion and then sort out the money side with payment on account up to a certain value then we agreed the final amount at some point.
One of the recurring themes we continously come across is when the contractor finally gets round to assessing, they always ask for actual costs and try to remove our risk elements and some send their site guys out who check non verified records to throttle back our site allowances with no justification. We state that we have no obligation to go open book under an option a and the costs are an estimate and if the actuals are lower or higher, is irrelevant, we take the risk if we’ve under estimated. We are happy to show actuals on the option e contract.
A job we worked on, the contractor was continously tampering and adjusting down our quoted ce estimates which we eventually resolved but was frustrating.
One other thing I’ve noted is the dividing date. In the instances of the added work coming via new drawings issued with no ce notification from the contractor, is the dividing date the date of the drawings issued or the date of our ce which we notify to the contractor advising of additional work? In this case, the costs are a forecast as they are pre work.
Can anyone elaborate on this and advise if our approach is correct? Are there any lines of defense to protect our entitlements?
Thanks