NEC Guidance Notes

The NEC guidance notes section aims to provide a useful resource at all levels for those involved in projects under the NEC3 and NEC4 forms of contract.

We would highly encourage everyone to read through the relevant Guidance Notes sections, as well as the NEC Frequently Asked Questions and Free NEC Downloads & Publications collections, to hopefully clarify and provide practical tips as to how a clause should be interpreted and administered.

Tip: You may find our NEC guidance note search tool handy.

Feel free to send us further questions that you may want answered and we can add these as further sections of guidance on our website.

NEC3 and NEC4 Guidance Notes – An Introduction

NEC Guidance Notes – An Introduction

An introduction to GMH Planning’s NEC guidance notes, a useful resource at all levels for those involved in projects under the NEC3 & NEC4 forms of contract.

NEC4 Suite of Contracts – Overview

The NEC contract is deliberately written to formalise the requirement to carry out good practice project management systems that should assist the project teams in understanding the status of both time and cost for the lifecycle of the project.

ECC Clause 11.2 – Defined Terms

Any capitalised terms within the contract mean that they are a defined term of which a definition will be found in section 11 of the contract, whilst any italicised terms within the contract will be quantified within Contract Data Part 1 of a particular contract.

ECC Section 13 – Communications

Flow of communication is essential between the parties to ensure the level of understanding and transparency between the Parties. In particular clauses 13.1 and 13.7 […]

NEC requirement to act in a “spirit of mutual trust and co-operation”

The opening clause of the ECC contract brings two very important issues to the fore, that 1) everyone named and involved with the contract has to do what it says, and 2) do this in a spirit of mutual trust and cooperation.

ECC Section 15 – Early Warnings

The early warning process is a mechanism for both parties to identify potential problems to the project. The contract emphasises that both Parties are obliged […]

ECC Section 3 – Programme

The NEC suite of contracts puts far greater contractual requirements upon the Contractor to produce and manage a detailed programme than other forms of contract currently in existence within the construction industry. Clear contractual mechanisms for agreeing change between the parties are key to successs.

ECC Clause 31.1 – Programme

Clause 31.1 confirms that a programme can either be bound into the contract or a first programme issued for acceptance after contract award within the […]

ECC Clause 31.2 – Programme Requirements

ECC Clause 31.2 is indeed one of the longest in the whole Contract, which provides a comprehensive list of what should be included within each […]

NEC ECC Section 14 Project Manager NEC Guidance Note

ECC Section 14 – Project Manager and Supervisor

This clause introduces the two key players from the Client’s “side of the fence”. The Project Manager is the named person within Contract Data part […]

ECC Section 2 – Contractor’s Main Responsibilities

This section is a reminder of some of the key contractors responsibilities under the contract.

NEC Clause 31.3 Programme Acceptance NEC Guidance Note

ECC Clause 31.3 – Programme Acceptance

The Accepted Programme is key in agreeing the true state of play at any one point in time for that project. The regularly submitted programmes […]

ECC Clause 32.1 – Revising the Programme

This clause requires that all subsequent programmes include actual progress achieved on each operation and effect upon remaining work, , how Contractor plans to deal […]

ECC Section 36 – Acceleration

The acceleration provisions are actually very simple under the contract and are the mechanism for bringing forward the Completion Date at the request of the […]

ECC Clause 60.1 – Compensation Events

Whilst early warnings are matters that could affect time cost or quality, if something has affected or will affect time, cost or quality and is […]

ECC Section 61 – Notifying Compensation Events

It is not uncommon for people to take a literal meaning of clause 32.1, that a revised programme should show implemented compensation events. Their response has been that therefore that you do not show non-implemented compensation events. Is this actually the case?

ECC Section 63 – Assessing Compensation Events

The Contractor has to submit their quotation within three weeks of the quotation request. It is important that they present the quotation in a format […]