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Unexpected ground conditions

Contractor side: Compensation events

We've found far more groundwater than the Site Information suggested, and we need extra wells. Who pays?

Where the contract stands

It depends on what an experienced contractor could reasonably have allowed for at the Contract Date. Under 60.1(12) the Client carries only the part beyond a reasonable allowance. Warn straight away if price or programme could be affected, and notify within the time bar: nothing the Project Manager did caused this, so 61.3 applies in full.

Read the guide: Unforeseen ground conditions

This is our plain-English summary, not legal advice. Your own contract, including any Z clauses, decides.

In Contract Status, step by step

  1. Give the early warning

    Describe what you found, where and how it compares with the Site Information, score the risk and ask for a meeting.

    An early warning about groundwater in the valve chamber excavation with its risk categories and score

    EW-0004: water about 1.5 m above the level in the Site Information.

  2. Notify the compensation event

    Add the notification with the clause from the list and the date you became aware. The photographs and survey go on as files.

    Compensation event CE-0004 for additional dewatering wells with clause 60.1(12) and a became aware date

    CE-0004: notified four days after the pumping test showed the inflow.

  3. Follow it to a price

    Your quotation goes on the event. In this example the Project Manager did not accept it and made its own assessment, which is kept on the same register against the same event.

    A Project Manager assessment record for CE-0004 showing the value, the Completion Date in force and no change in time

    PMA-CE-0004: the assessment replaces the quotation as the event's price.

All screens are from the upgraded app, using a fictional water company, Kestrel Valley Water, and its made-up contractors.

What happens next on the other side

The Project Manager replies on the notification, then on your quotation: accept, ask for a revised quotation, or assess it. When the event is implemented, the total of the Prices, the Completion Date and any Key Dates update on the contract page.

See it on a contract you can click through

The guided tour lets you walk the same fictional account yourself. Or book a demo, and bring the situation you are dealing with.

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More examples