Contracts / JCT and NEC
The contract decides what the record is worth.
The record answers what happened on site. JCT and NEC answer the next two questions: so what, and by when. These are plain-English explainers of the two contract families that run most UK construction, written for the people keeping the record, not for lawyers.
At a glance
Two philosophies, not two versions of the same thing
JCT and NEC are built on opposite instincts. JCT documents the job and settles up when something goes wrong. NEC asks both sides to see problems coming and price them as they happen. The mechanics follow from that difference.
JCT
Joint Contracts TribunalFamiliar, document-led, adversarial when it goes wrong.
- Time
- Extension of time for Relevant Events, assessed by the contract administrator. Notice when the delay becomes reasonably apparent. No countdown clock, a judgement standard.
- Money
- Loss and expense for Relevant Matters, claimed and ascertained after the event.
- In practice
- Two parties and a certifier. The paperwork tends to catch up with the job.
NEC
New Engineering ContractProactive, programme-led, collaborative by design.
- Time
- Compensation events roll time and money together, assessed against the Accepted Programme, quoted at the time.
- Money
- Defined Cost plus Fee, priced into the same compensation-event quotation as the time.
- In practice
- Manage as you go. Miss a notification window and the entitlement can be gone, both time and money.
Where we fit
Every contract runs on evidence made at the time
JCT turns on when it became apparent
The duty to notify a delay bites when it becomes reasonably apparent. A dated, contemporaneous record is the cleanest evidence of when that moment actually was, rather than a reconstruction months later.
NEC turns on when you became aware
The compensation-event clock runs from awareness. The record shows what was known on site and when, which is exactly what the notification window is measured against.
Both are won on contemporaneous proof
Whether it is a Relevant Event or a compensation event, the difference between a strong position and a weak one is usually the quality of the record made at the time. That is the part we automate.
Coming soon
A free JCT and NEC delay-analysis workspace
We are building a separate, free tool for quantity surveyors and commercial teams: a growing, plain-English knowledge base of how each contract handles notices, time and money, cross-checked across multiple sources, so you can find the mechanism you need and the record that supports it in one place. It is designed to help you assemble what you upload to a main contractor’s portal, not to replace your judgement.
These pages are general information about standard contract forms, written to help teams understand the mechanics. They are not legal or contractual advice, and they do not reproduce any JCT or NEC contract wording, which is the copyright of its publisher. Standard forms are routinely amended, so notification periods and payment terms in your project can differ from the published defaults. Your executed contract, as amended, always governs. For a decision on a specific matter, take professional advice.