Contract Administration
Independent administration of building contracts under JCT, from tender to final certificate, so every pound certified matches work properly executed.
Overview
Once a contract is signed, someone has to run it. The Contract Administrator inspects the works, values them, issues instructions and variations, certifies payment and practical completion, and agrees the final account. We do this independently, for the client, with the contract as the rule book.
Why it matters
The client’s exposure on any building contract is managed or lost in the administration: what gets certified, how variations are valued and how retention is held. Opening up old fabric often moves the scope. A good administrator makes sure the client approves each change in cost before it happens, not after.
Tendered Properly
Returns checked, normalised to a common basis and weighed on more than price before a contract is let.
Valued on Inspection
Each interim valuation a physical assessment of work properly executed, not a rubber stamp on an application.
Closed Cleanly
Every variation instructed and documented, so the final account is traceable line by line.
What you receive
- A tender report with a reasoned recommendation.
- The contract prepared under the appropriate JCT form, Minor Works, Intermediate or Standard.
- Site inspections and progress meetings, minuted, with a dated photographic record.
- Interim valuations and payment certificates, with variations valued and reported.
- Practical completion, defects and final certificates issued in sequence.
- Principal Designer under CDM 2015 within the same appointment where required.
Who it is for
Private owners, freeholders, managing agents, developers and commercial clients carrying out refurbishment, repair, conversion or new build work, from a single house to a phased estate.
We can administer works we have specified, or step in on a contract someone else has designed and let. For developers, we also provide professional consultant’s certificates for lenders.
The RICS standards
NRM: New Rules of Measurement
RICS suite of measurement rules, current editions issued October 2021
Appointment: RICS Contract Administration Services, under the RICS Standard or Short Form of Consultant’s Appointment. On smaller projects where we also design and specify the works, RICS Building Surveyor Services covers the project end to end, pre and post contract, with Principal Designer (CDM 2015) Services added where required.
NRM is the RICS set of measurement rules for the cost management of building work. NRM 1 governs order of cost estimates and cost plans, NRM 2 the detailed measurement of building works for tender, and NRM 3 the costing of maintenance works.
Measuring to a recognised standard gives every tenderer the same basis to price, so tenders can be compared like for like, and variations can be valued on the same footing once the works are under way.
Running the contract itself is covered by the RICS Black Book, the RICS practice guidance for construction, including Tendering strategies, Interim valuations and payment, Valuing change, Extensions of time, Defining completion, Retention, Defects and rectifications and Final account procedures. Where we also design and specify the works, the RICS Design and specification guidance applies. Contracts are let on JCT standard forms.
“confidence in the quality and consistency of the cost information”
RICS, on NRM 1
Key terms
- Order of cost estimate
- An early estimate of likely cost, prepared before the design is developed (NRM 1).
- Cost plan
- The elemental budget that tracks cost as the design develops (NRM 1).
- Bill of quantities
- The measured, itemised description of the works on which contractors price (NRM 2).
- Schedule of works
- A lighter itemised alternative to a bill of quantities, common on refurbishment and repair work.
- JCT
- The Joint Contracts Tribunal standard forms of building contract, under which we administer works.
How this maps to your RICS appointment
Contract administration is appointed as a defined set of RICS services. The headings below follow the RICS Contract Administration Services schedule, used with the RICS Standard or Short Form of Consultant’s Appointment, so the services you see here are the services you tick in your appointment.
General
Meetings, regular quality, progress and cost reports, change control, and compliance with CDM 2015.
Commencement
Background information, the Professional Team’s terms and insurance, project insurance and the procurement route.
Statutory compliance
Listing, conservation area, planning and Building Regulations positions confirmed with the authorities.
Programme
The project programme, the contractor’s construction programme, and advice on any risk of delay.
Administering the contract
Regular site visits for progress and quality, the contract administered to its terms, and a record of every meeting.
Valuations and payment
Interim valuations prepared fairly and impartially, and payment certified as the contract requires.
Completion and final account
Completion assessed and certified, defects listed and managed, and the adjusted contract sum agreed.
Additional services
Extensions of time, loss and expense, acceleration, and support in adjudication, mediation or litigation.
Case studies
9 homes
Nine new homes on a garage site
Backland garages in north London replaced with nine new houses, from planning through Contract Administration to completion.
20+ homes
Certifying a whole development
A maltings conversion and new build plots in East Anglia, certified home by home and ready for lenders.
7 valuations
Structural repairs to an occupied house
A north west London period house where the owner approved every change in cost before it happened.
Our Contract Administration runs from repairs to a single house to a £2.9 million final account on a central city fuel station redevelopment. See all case studies
Avalon Surveyors Ltd is regulated by RICS and has been in continuous practice since 2000. For block major works with Section 20 consultation, see Major Works, Managed.
Discuss a contract
Tell us about the works, the building and where the project has reached, and we will come back to you within two business days.