A programme that has lost integrity does not announce itself. It looks exactly like one that works. The problems only surface when a compensation event tests it and the programme cannot answer the one question the NEC contract keeps asking. This article describes five signs any project director can check in ten minutes, without specialist planning knowledge, to know whether the programme is protecting their commercial position or quietly giving it away.

Most contractors treat clause 31 as a procedural hurdle to clear at the start of the job. Submit the programme, wait for acceptance, move on. That approach quietly hands commercial control to the project manager. This article explains what the accepted programme actually protects, how the deemed acceptance mechanism works, and why a programme that was accepted at mobilisation provides almost no commercial protection by month six.

Excel is great for registers and dashboards, but risky as the master NEC programme. Here are 7 pitfalls that undermine cause and effect, plus fixes using a lean logic linked schedule.

Time Risk Allowances are not padding. Under NEC, they are part of realistic planning. Clause 31.2 requires the contractor’s programme to show float and time risk allowances, and the NEC guidance is clear that where reasonable TRA is missing, unclear or not shown properly, the Project Manager has grounds not to accept the programme because it does not represent the contractor’s plans realistically or does not show the information the contract requires. That sounds technical, b

A practical guide to NEC4 delivery for subcontractors: build accepted programmes, run early warnings properly, manage compensation events to timescales, and keep evidence audit-ready.