Construction Contract Administration and Claims Training Course

Course overview

Construction projects rarely fail because a team cannot identify that something changed; they fail when notices are late, records are incomplete, entitlement is argued from the wrong clause, or a claim is presented without a defensible link between cause, effect, time and cost. This course equips construction professionals to administer contracts actively from mobilisation through final account, protecting contractual rights while maintaining workable relationships with employers, contractors, subcontractors and consultants.

Participants work through the administration and claims processes used on building and infrastructure projects, including contract document hierarchy, roles and authorities, notices, instructions, change control, extensions of time, disruption, prolongation, payment, records and dispute escalation. They learn to interpret key provisions in FIDIC, NEC4 and JCT-style contracts; prepare a notice register; assess entitlement; establish critical-path delay; analyse time-related cost; and build an evidence-led claim or response.

Delivery combines instructor-led legal and commercial briefings with clause-reading workshops, realistic project correspondence, delay-analysis exercises and group negotiation. Participants leave with a practical Contract Administration and Claims Toolkit containing a notice register, change-control workflow, contemporaneous-records checklist, extension-of-time assessment template, claim narrative structure and action plan for applying the controls to their own project environment.

The programme is designed for professionals who already work with construction contracts and need greater confidence in managing change, preserving entitlement and resolving claims before they become formal disputes. It is particularly valuable for teams working across international forms of contract or administering complex projects with multiple interfaces, subcontractors and programme dependencies.

Course objectives

By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

• Interpret contract document hierarchy, defined terms, risk allocation and delegated authorities in construction contracts
• Prepare compliant notices using a notice register, clause references, deadlines and service requirements
• Operate a change-control workflow that links instructions, quotations, approvals, programme effects and valuation records
• Assess extension-of-time entitlement using critical-path logic, concurrency principles and contemporaneous evidence
• Calculate prolongation and disruption cost using resource records, preliminaries analysis and productivity evidence
• Compile a structured claim submission with cause-and-effect analysis, entitlement, quantum, mitigation and supporting documents
• Evaluate contractor and subcontractor claims against contractual requirements, records and alternative causation
• Plan dispute-avoidance and escalation actions using negotiation, without-prejudice correspondence and contractual dispute procedures

Benefits of attending

Target competencies

Who should attend

• Contract Managers — who administer obligations, notices, changes and claims across live projects
• Project Managers — who must convert site events into timely contractual actions and defensible decisions
• Commercial Managers — who lead valuation, cost recovery, final account and claim strategy
• Quantity Surveyors — who prepare and assess variations, payment applications and loss-and-expense submissions
• Planning Engineers — who analyse programme impact, critical delay and extension-of-time evidence
• Construction Lawyers and Claims Consultants — who need stronger operational insight into project records and claim development

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have practical experience on construction or engineering projects and a working understanding of contract documents, scopes of work, programmes, variations, payment applications and site correspondence. They should be able to read a clause, follow a baseline programme and understand basic cost categories such as preliminaries, labour, plant and subcontract costs. Bringing a current or anonymised contract is useful but not essential. No law degree, specialist delay-analysis software expertise or prior claims-writing qualification is required. The course explains the legal principles in a commercial project context rather than providing jurisdiction-specific legal advice.

Training methodology

An experienced construction contracts instructor leads clause-based briefings, using FIDIC, NEC4 and JCT examples to compare how administration mechanisms operate in practice. Participants analyse a live-project simulation containing instructions, emails, site records, programme updates and cost data. Small groups prepare notices, test entitlement, map cause and effect, assess an extension of time and negotiate a claim response. Daily debriefs connect the exercise to participants’ own projects, and the final session produces a personal implementation plan for strengthening records, notices and escalation controls.

Course outline

Day 1: Contract architecture and active administration

• Contract document hierarchy and precedence clauses
• Allocation of employer, contractor and subcontractor risk
• Roles, authorities and certification powers
• FIDIC, NEC4 and JCT administration mechanisms
• Conditions precedent and contractual time bars
• Notice content, service methods and notice registers
• Contemporaneous records and project correspondence protocols

Workshop: Participants review a project event pack and produce a contract administration matrix and compliant notice register.

Day 2: Variations, instructions and payment control

• Distinguishing variations, changes, defects and scope growth
• Written instruction requirements and constructive change indicators
• Change-control workflow from event to valuation
• Valuation methods, rates, dayworks and defined cost
• Payment applications, certificates, withholding and payment notices
• Subcontract flow-down obligations and back-to-back risk
• Final account preparation and unresolved change logs

Workshop: Participants convert informal site directions into a controlled change register, valuation approach and payment-position memo.

Day 3: Time, delay and extension-of-time claims

• Baseline programmes, updates and accepted programme requirements
• Critical path identification and float ownership
• Delay events, compensable delay and non-excusable delay
• Extension-of-time clauses and procedural compliance
• Concurrent delay approaches and apportionment issues
• Time impact analysis and windows analysis fundamentals
• Mitigation duties, acceleration and recovery programmes

Workshop: Participants assess a delayed works package, identify critical-path impact and prepare an extension-of-time recommendation.

Day 4: Quantum, disruption and claim preparation

• Claim anatomy: cause, contractual entitlement, effect and quantum
• Prolongation cost calculation and time-related preliminaries
• Disruption and loss-of-productivity evidence
• Labour, plant, material and subcontract cost substantiation
• Pricing escalation, currency risk and financing cost considerations
• Evidence bundles, witness inputs and document chronology
• Claim narrative drafting and executive claim summaries

Workshop: Participants build a quantified claim section from timesheets, invoices, programme extracts and project correspondence.

Day 5: Claim defence, negotiation and dispute avoidance

• Claim review checklist and entitlement challenge methods
• Assessing causation, proof, mitigation and alternative explanations
• Responding to defective notices and unsupported quantum
• Without-prejudice negotiation strategy and settlement ranges
• Dispute boards, adjudication, mediation and arbitration pathways
• Privilege, confidentiality and escalation governance
• Project-specific claims prevention and lessons-learned controls

Workshop: Participants conduct a claim negotiation and complete a final Contract Administration and Claims Toolkit for workplace use.

Tools & standards covered

FIDIC Red Book 2017, NEC4 Engineering and Construction Contract, JCT Design and Build Contract 2024, Oracle Primavera P6

A typical training day

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in the East Africa Time zone, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

How you can take this course

Certification

Participants who complete the full five days receive the Skillset Development Certificate of Completion, stating the course title, course code, dates and delivery format — suitable for professional-development records and employer reimbursement.

Frequently asked questions