Compensation Events

A Practical Guide for Planners, QSs, and Commercial Managers in UK Construction In the NEC4 Engineering and Construction Contract (ECC), Compensation Events (CEs) are intended to provide a fair and transparent mechanism for assessing changes in time and cost. In practice, however, many contractors-particularly small to mid-tier firms-struggle with managing CEs effectively. This can lead to delayed payments, rejected assessments, and commercial exposure. Whether you're a contr

If you are working under the NEC4 Engineering and Construction Contract (ECC), your entitlement to time on a compensation event is only as good as the way you assess it. Most contractors do not lose time because the event was weak. They lose it because the programme evidence is unclear, the “dividing date” baseline is wrong, or the delay model mixes the compensation event with unrelated project noise. The NEC approach is deliberately prospective. It is meant to keep commerci