At four o'clock in the afternoon, a revised pump-room drawing arrives in the site supervisor's inbox. The designer asks for the pipework to be relocated before tomorrow's concrete pour. The principal's project manager wants the team to proceed. The Superintendent has not been involved, and nobody is certain whether the revision changes the agreed work.
The subcontractor is preparing to carry out the relocation, while the planner is trying to assess its effect on the programme. With the pour approaching, there is little time to resolve whether the revised detail is already required or needs an instruction under the contract.
A technical request can reach the site long before the people responsible for administering the contract hear about it. If instruction routes and document control are already understood, the supervisor knows whom to contact and how to obtain a decision. Without those arrangements, the team may have to resolve questions of authority and contractual scope while construction is waiting.
Establish the contract documents
The procurement and tendering process should leave the delivery team with a clear record of what has been agreed, including the contract documents, amendments and project-specific particulars. During delivery, the team has to apply that agreement to the instructions, notices and decisions arising from the work.
A handover folder may contain tender drawings, construction drawings, draft conditions, an executed agreement and months of correspondence. Their presence in the folder does not establish their contractual status. Tender documents may not form part of the final agreement, and clarifications may have been accepted, rejected, superseded or incorporated on a particular basis. These matters belong in the contract review before signing, with the agreed position handed over alongside the executed agreement.
A drawing might have been issued at Revision 3 for tender, with Revision 4 listed in the contractual scope and Revision 6 marked issued for construction. The pricing schedule refers simply to the tender drawings. Selecting the highest revision number will not resolve the contractual question. The answer depends on the wording incorporating the documents, the document schedules, accepted clarifications and any subsequent directions or agreed changes.
The documents defining the agreed work need to be distinguished from the current information authorised for construction. A later drawing may develop work already included in the contractor's obligations or introduce a change requiring contractual action. Its issue date or drawing stamp alone does not establish the commercial consequence. Where the requirement has changed, the team needs to manage the resulting variation through the contract's instruction and assessment procedures.
A controlled contract set and document register give people a reliable basis for checking what applies. Unresolved clarifications, missing documents and inconsistent revisions need someone responsible for resolving them. Where the contract contains an order of precedence, it should be read alongside any procedure for notifying discrepancies and obtaining direction. Knowing which document prevails may still leave a detail that needs clarification before construction.
Amendments need to be read with the clauses they change. Familiarity with the standard form can be misleading where the agreed wording differs. Notice details, dates and other project particulars also need to be checked for incomplete or inconsistent entries before anyone has to rely on them.
Authority and delegation under the contract
For the pump-room revision, several people may have a legitimate interest in the decision, but their contractual powers can differ. The designer may provide technical advice, the principal's project manager may coordinate delivery, and the Superintendent may hold specified powers to direct or assess under the contract.
The authority to issue an instruction may differ from the authority to assess its consequences. Seniority, attendance at meetings and familiarity with the project do not establish that a person holds either power. Each function needs to be checked against the contract and any permitted delegation.
Appointment identifies the person holding a role. Delegation, where permitted, authorises another person to exercise specified functions. A site representative authorised to inspect work and issue defect directions should not be assumed to have authority to assess an extension of time. The terms of the delegation need to establish which functions it covers, any limits and when it takes effect, with notification given as the contract requires.
Internal approval also needs to be distinguished from contractual authority. An organisation may require financial approval before agreeing a commitment, while the contract specifies who can issue the relevant direction or notice. The administration arrangements should make both requirements clear.
The revised pump detail needs to reach the person authorised to decide what contractual action is required. The approaching pour makes that referral urgent. A prompt discussion may resolve the question, but the decision and any instruction still need to be recorded and communicated in accordance with the contract.
Supervisors need to know whom to contact when a request could affect scope, cost or programme, and how to escalate it if a decision is not forthcoming. The authority register should reflect those arrangements, including cover during absences and any changes in appointment or delegation.
Contractual notices and correspondence
Projects depend on daily discussions, emails and meetings. Some events also require a particular contractual communication. An email explaining that access will be unavailable may provide evidence of the problem while leaving the contractor with a separate obligation to notify its consequences.
The contract determines what triggers a notice, who must receive it, when it is due, what it must contain and how it must be served. A due date is only reliable if the team has identified the event that starts the period.
Suppose access is unavailable on Monday, the site manager confirms on Tuesday that an activity will be delayed, and the commercial manager first reads about it in Thursday's report. The trigger depends on the contract's wording and the facts. Thursday should not be adopted merely because it is when the commercial team became involved. Site and planning information must reach the people responsible for notices early enough for them to act.
As soon as an event arises, the team should establish what notification is required and whether particulars or updates must follow. Waiting for a complete cost or programme analysis can put a deadline at risk where the contract requires earlier notification.
Some contracts attach consequences to non-compliance with notice provisions. Those consequences depend on the wording and circumstances and should not be assumed from the existence of a deadline alone. An approaching, missed or disputed deadline needs prompt escalation, with the relevant facts and records preserved.
For electronic notices, the nominated address or platform account, permitted service method and rules concerning receipt all matter. Uploading a document to a shared folder may not satisfy a requirement to serve it through a particular workflow. The record should include the exact notice issued and evidence of submission or delivery.
A notice register should connect each event to its trigger, deadline, issue details, response and next action. Someone needs to monitor those responses and arrange any further notices, particulars or other follow-up required.
Set up reliable project records
At mobilisation, the team should agree who makes the daily records, when they are completed and where originals are kept. Those records need to be accessible to the people running the work and remain available after staff or subcontractors leave.
A diary entry stating 'pump excavation delayed' gives little explanation of what happened. An entry recording that excavation stopped at 10.40 am in Area B when an uncharted service was exposed is more useful. Identifying the four operatives, 20-tonne excavator, person notified and related photographs allows the team to investigate the event and connect it to other records.
The record should continue as the situation develops. If the crew and excavator move to drainage work in Area C at 2.15 pm, that belongs in the diary and resource records. Recording only the initial stoppage would leave an incomplete account of what those resources did during the day.
Using the same activity or event reference helps connect the records of the work across diaries, photographs, timesheets and programme updates. Original files and earlier document versions should be preserved. Any later reconstruction needs to identify its sources and assumptions so that it can be distinguished from information recorded at the time.
Put the administration arrangements into practice
An action schedule can translate the contract requirements into responsibilities for the delivery team. For each notice or submission, it can identify the trigger, responsible person, recipient, deadline and supporting record. Briefings can then use the project's actual procedures and documents to explain what each person has to do.
The planner needs to know the relevant dates and submission requirements, and which changes in progress need to be reported for contractual notification. Site supervisors need clear instruction routes and daily-record requirements. Document control needs agreed processes for document status, issue, service and retention. The commercial team can then check whether these arrangements provide the information it needs from the workface.
When aligning subcontract obligations with the main contract, the contractor needs time to review information from its subcontractors and act on it. Identical notification periods may leave no practical allowance for that work. Each subcontract also needs clear instruction routes and record requirements, understood by the people who will use them.
A document platform only helps if people can use it. A subcontractor without access to current drawings needs a controlled interim arrangement and someone responsible for resolving access. Testing the notice workflow before an urgent deadline exposes problems while there is time to fix them. Retrieving a recent diary entry, drawing transmittal or notice also shows whether people can find the correct record and version.
The mobilisation tasks need to be ordered by urgency. A notice due today takes priority over completing a register next week. Uncertain authority, conflicting documents and incomplete records each need someone responsible for resolving them, a deadline and any necessary temporary control. Outstanding actions need to be followed through so that temporary arrangements do not become permanent gaps.
For the pump-room drawing, the supervisor would know where to refer the request before the pour. The authorised person could establish whether an instruction was needed, while the planner and commercial team assessed any effects and notification requirements. The site could proceed on the basis of an authorised decision, with a record of what was required, why it was required and what happened as a result.
This article draws on the Contract Administration – Essentials and Best Practice (Part 1) module of the RICS Commercial Management Fundamentals programme, which I developed and deliver for RICS. The views expressed here are my own.
