What does NEC4 clause 60.1(13) mean?
A weather measurement recorded within a calendar month, before the Completion Date for the whole of the works, at the place stated in the Contract Data, whose value the weather data show to occur on average less frequently than once in ten years, is a compensation event.
Updated: 15 September 2026. By Jack Butler-Kettle, Quantity Surveyor & Claims Consultant.
The answer
Clause 60.1(13) replaces argument about bad weather with a measurement. The event is that a weather measurement is recorded within a calendar month, before the Completion Date for the whole of the works, at the place stated in the Contract Data, the value of which by comparison with the weather data is shown to occur on average less frequently than once in ten years. The Contract Data states the place where weather is measured, the measurements to be recorded, such as cumulative rainfall or days with snow lying, and the source of the weather data against which they are compared. To establish the event the Contractor obtains the recorded measurement for the calendar month and the ten year value for that measurement and that month from the weather data, and shows that the recorded value is worse. Weather at a different place, a measurement the Contract Data does not list, or a bad fortnight that is not bad over the month, are outside the paragraph. The measurement is only known when the month's record is available, so the Contractor becomes aware then and notifies the event under clause 61.3 within eight weeks of that. The change to the Prices is assessed under clause 63.1 as the effect on actual Defined Cost by the date of the notification and forecast Defined Cost afterwards, plus the Fee, and clause 60.1(13) itself limits the assessment to the difference between the weather measurement and the weather the data show to occur less frequently than once in ten years, so the Contractor is compensated only for the excess over a one in ten year month. What most often goes wrong is that the Contractor claims for every wet day, or cannot separate the cost of the excess days from the days it should have allowed for. Any delay to the Completion Date is assessed separately under clause 63 by the programming expert.
Example
The situation
An external works contractor is laying kerbs and asphalt on an Option C contract, where the Contract Data names a weather station and lists cumulative rainfall as a measurement. The station's record for a calendar month shows 168 millimetres of rainfall, against a once in ten years value of 131 millimetres for that month.
What happens
- The contractor notifies the compensation event under clause 61.3 when the monthly record is published.
- The quotation identifies the 37 millimetres of excess over the ten year value.
- The excess is converted with the daily records into the surfacing days lost that are attributable to the excess rather than to a one in ten year month.
- The quotation assesses under clause 63.1 the standing surfacing gang and plant on those days at £6,300 of Defined Cost, with the Fee added at the fee percentage in the Contract Data.
The rainfall in figures
| Item | Rainfall |
|---|---|
| Recorded for the month at the named station | 168 millimetres |
| Once in ten years value for that month | 131 millimetres |
| Excess | 37 millimetres |
The outcome
The compensation event carries £6,300 of Defined Cost plus the Fee for the days attributable to the excess; the days of ordinary bad weather within the ten year value are not claimed.
