NEC4 Payment Disputes: How To Win The Argument Before It Starts

William Doyle

CEO at Gather

In this article

The application went in on time. The certificate came back £310,000 light: insufficient substantiation. Most NEC4 payment disputes are not about the rate. They are about proof.

Clauses 50 and 51

The Project Manager assesses the amount due at each assessment date (clause 50): Price for Work Done to Date, plus other amounts, less amounts retained. The PM certifies within one week (clause 51). Payment follows within three weeks unless the contract says otherwise. The assessment is the PM's act. Your application matters, especially with Y(UK)2, but the PM can only certify what the records show.

Y(UK)2

The Construction Act overlay puts weight on a valid application and a valid pay less notice. Smash and grab is a process win, not a substitute for Defined Cost. The team with the dated diary still wins the next period.

Why the cut happens

Labour with no activity. Plant with no idle reason. A CE in the application that was never notified. A reconstructed week the PM will not accept as contemporaneous.

Put Defined Cost on the site diary that day. Rosie reads those lines so the application is a sum of records, not a number looking for backup. Book 15 minutes if you want that on one live job.

Key Takeaways

Y(UK)2 is a timetable. It is not evidence. A late application with no record still loses.
The hours and the change sit in the site diary written that day, not in the payment notice.
Rosie reads those entries against NEC4 so the application and the diary match before the due date.