Signed Contract Review
Risk mitigationFixed FeeFor Subcontractors5 working days
I review the contract you have already signed and hand you its risk map and working rules: every deadline that bites, every clause likely to be used against you, and what to do about each. Signature ended the negotiation, not the story: the terms are now fixed, but what they cost you is still open.
The problem
The contract was drafted by the other side and signed under programme pressure, and now the job runs on it. Somewhere in those pages sit the notice periods that can kill a claim if missed, deadlines that run from events nobody is watching, and clauses lawful but loaded against you. A time bar does its work silently, months before anyone argues about it, and you cannot manage a risk you have not found. Every week the document stays unread, the terms get more expensive to live with.
The solution
I read the signed contract clause by clause for four kinds of problem: terms technically incorrect, terms that do not comply with the law, terms unusual for a contract of this kind, and terms lawful but loading far more risk onto you than the work justifies. Because the terms can no longer move, every finding becomes management rather than amendment: a risk map of the clauses most likely to be used against you and how to handle each, every notice period and time bar mapped with its trigger and its form, and the contract translated into working rules your site team can run.
What you receive
The whole pack lands together: the findings, the deadline schedule, the risk map and the working rules, walked through with you so you know exactly what you are holding and how to run it. The terms are fixed and cannot be renegotiated, but what they cost you is still open: the notice that goes in on day four instead of never, the record kept from this week rather than reconstructed next year. Nothing in the document changes; what it costs you does.
The Handover Pack accompanies the work with its dates and sources, likely outcomes and responses, scope boundaries and ready-to-send correspondence where needed.
Turnaround: five working days.
The working days start when the agreed scope and required inputs are available. Optional items do not hold the start unless the agreed scope says otherwise.
Need it faster? Ask on the first call: an express turnaround is quoted in writing where the diary allows it.
How it works
You send me the paperwork
You send everything in the list below, then take one call to explain the job, where it stands and what is worrying you.
- A
The full contract, with every schedule, appendix and amendment
EssentialWithout it: A review of the front end alone reads confident but misses the clause the job actually turns on, with no way of knowing it was missed
Where to find it: Usually attached to the order email from the other side's commercial team, or sitting in their procurement portal under the project; a phone scan of a paper copy is fine.
Why I need it: The review is a read of the whole document, and the worst terms are in the amendments
- B
The order, any letter of intent, and the correspondence forming the deal
ImportantWithout it: The review takes the signed document to govern on its own terms, with no check on whether anything in the deal actually varies it
Where to find it: The order confirmation email and a search of your inbox for the other side's contact and the project name usually surface the whole trail in a few minutes.
Why I need it: What was agreed is not always what the drafted terms say
Copies are fine. Send what you have and I'll tell you what's missing. Download the client request PDF or editable Word version to pass to whoever holds the files.
Governing documents settled.
Which documents actually govern the job is established and recorded before the review begins, so every finding stands on the deal as it really is.
- A
I review the whole contract
I read every clause for anything technically incorrect, anything that doesn't comply with the law, anything unusual for a contract of this kind, and anything overly onerous, meaning loaded unusually hard against you.
I map every deadline that bites
Every notice period, time bar and condition precedent pulled out with its clause, its trigger and the form the notice must take, ready to go into the site diary as hard dates.
Live deadlines raised at once.
Any period already running is raised with you the day it is found, never held back for the finished report.
I build the risk map
The clauses most likely to be used against you, each flagged with how to manage it: the notices to serve, the records to keep, and the arguments to drop because the contract does not support them.
I write the working rules
The contract translated into the handful of habits, deadlines and one-line documents this job needs, on one sheet the site team can keep in the cabin.
You run the contract deliberately
The deadlines go into the diary, the rules go to the site team, and the clauses that were waiting to bite become dates and habits instead.
I hand over the risk map and the working rules
Free Service Pack
A step-by-step Handbook, with the templates and working documents you need to carry out the work it covers yourself. You supply your own project information and records.
Follow the Handbook's scope and stopping points, and obtain independent advice where required. The pack is not project-specific advice or independent sign-off.
Tips that raise your odds of success
Questions I get asked often
Not signed it yet? The Contract Review & Amendment Schedule on the Quantity Surveying side reviews the contract while the terms can still move, and drafts the amendments to ask for. And if a payment has already gone wrong under this contract, Adjudication Support & Claims Preparation is the place to start.