The 13-point risk register we built before pricing a fixed-rate civils tender

Steve Parker
Jul 4
8 min read

Updated: 3 days ago

A drainage and civils subcontractor was invited to price the full civils package for a large subdivision enablement — measure-and-value under NZS 3910, no cost-fluctuation relief, and an RFI window that had already closed before pricing started. Before anyone touched a rate, we built a 13-point risk register. It changed the price more than any take-off could have.

By Steve Parker · Trueworks · NZ construction estimation · 7 min

What you'll learn in this case study

Why the risk register comes before the rates on any measure-and-value tender — and what 13 points on a real one looked like
How a closed RFI window turns every documentation gap into a written tender qualification instead of a question
How escalation, liquidated damages, and quantity risk get priced into rates instead of hoped away

Quick answer: A drainage and civils subcontractor was invited by a head contractor to price the full civils package for a residential subdivision enablement of roughly 80 dwellings in South Auckland — NZS 3910 measure-and-value, about 120 priceable line items across 11 schedule sections, roughly 95 drawing sheets, and a programme of around 10 months. Before touching the rates we built a 13-point risk register. The big items: no cost-fluctuation relief across a 10-month programme, liquidated damages of around $2,500–3,000 per working day, an RFI window that had already closed, six-figure principal-set provisional sums, basis-of-payment clauses stating quantities were not to be relied on with no P&G adjustment on remeasure, asbestos pipe removal, over 2,000 tonnes of contaminated soil, and conditions of contract held on the head contractor's document system rather than in the pack. The deliverable: a formula-driven pricing workbook with per-line risk notes, a qualifications register, and a contingency table that made the margin decision explicit.

The tender pack

A drainage and civils subcontractor asked us to help price the full civils package for a residential subdivision enablement in South Auckland — earthworks interfaces, drainage, and the below-ground services that turn bare land into roughly 80 buildable lots. The invitation came from a head contractor running a competitive subcontract round, with the works let under NZS 3910 on a measure-and-value basis.

The pack was substantial: about 120 priceable line items across 11 schedule sections, roughly 95 drawing sheets, and a programme running around 10 months. A schedule that size rewards a particular kind of mistake: pricing from line 1 on day one, while the contractual context that should shape every rate goes unread until closing week.

We did it the other way around. Before a single rate was entered, we spent the first sitting on the conditions, the basis of payment, the programme clauses, and the schedule preambles, writing down every point where risk passed to the tenderer. Thirteen entries later, we had the document that would shape all 120 rates.

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What we found

The register ran to 13 points. These are the ones that moved the price.

No cost-fluctuation relief. The special conditions removed any cost-fluctuation adjustment. Across a roughly 10-month programme, every movement in pipe, aggregate, fuel, and labour prices sits inside the tendered rates. Escalation is not a maybe on a programme that long — it is a line to be priced.

Liquidated damages around $2,500–3,000 per working day. Real, deductible, and tied to a programme the subcontractor does not fully control. A fortnight of overrun is a five-figure deduction, so the LD figure has to inform both the programme allowances and the margin.

The RFI window had already closed. By the time pricing started, the period for tender questions was over. Every ambiguity across 95 drawing sheets could no longer be resolved by asking; each one had to become a written tender qualification instead.

Six-figure principal-set provisional sums. Several large provisional sums were fixed by the principal and could not be re-priced by the tenderer. They inflate the headline value while carrying none of the tenderer's margin, and they distort percentage-based P&G recovery.

Quantities not to be relied on, and no P&G adjustment on remeasure. The basis-of-payment clauses stacked two risks: the scheduled quantities carried no warranty, and if remeasured quantities came in low, the preliminary and general recovery would not adjust. Win the job on optimistic quantities and your site overheads are under-recovered for 10 months.

Asbestos pipe removal in the works. Priced against a removal methodology, licensed handling, and a disposal chain the schedule described only thinly.

Over 2,000 tonnes of contaminated soil disposal. Disposal rates swing widely with classification and facility acceptance, and the classification evidence in the pack was partial.

The conditions of contract were not in the pack. The full conditions lived on the head contractor's document system, referenced but not attached. Retentions, bonds, and payment terms — the clauses that decide whether a winning tender is survivable — were unknown at pricing time. That became qualification number one: the tender was offered subject to review of the full conditions.

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Risk register before rates: how the method works

The register is not a memo that sits beside the price — it is plumbed into it. The deliverable had three connected parts.

A formula-driven pricing workbook. Every schedule line carried its own risk note alongside its rate build-up: which register points touched that line, and what allowance or qualification answered them. The asbestos and soil lines carried methodology assumptions in writing.

A qualifications register. With RFIs shut, qualifications are the pressure valve. Each documentation gap became a numbered, specific, written qualification — subject to review of the full conditions; disposal priced against a stated soil classification; asbestos removal priced against a stated methodology; scheduled quantities adopted without warranty.

A contingency table. Escalation across 10 months, LD exposure, quantity risk on the heaviest lines, and the unresolved conditions each carried an explicit contingency figure. The final margin call was made looking at that table — a decision with numbers attached, not a percentage applied out of habit on closing day.

Under NZS 3910's measure-and-value machinery, the rates do all the work for the life of the contract: they price the remeasure and the variations, and they set the recovery on every disputed quantity.

What it costs when it's caught late

| Stage caught | Cost range | Why | |---|---|---| | At tender, register built before rates | About $2,000–5,000 of pricing effort | Risks become priced allowances and written qualifications while they are still negotiable | | At tender, noticed on closing day | About $5,000–15,000 | Rushed re-pricing, blanket contingency, and weak qualifications that get struck out | | Post-award, conditions finally read | About $20,000–60,000 | Retentions, bonds, and payment terms already binding; nothing left to negotiate with | | Mid-contract, escalation and quantities bite | About $50,000–150,000 | Under-recovered P&G and unpriced escalation compound monthly across a 10-month programme | | At completion, LDs assessed | About $30,000–90,000 | A 2–6 week overrun at $2,500–3,000 per working day, deducted from amounts already certified |

The five-point pre-pricing checklist for measure-and-value tenders

Read the conditions before the schedule. Fluctuations, LDs, retentions, bonds, payment terms. If any are missing from the pack, chase them — and if they cannot be produced, qualify the tender as subject to their review.
Check the RFI window the day the pack arrives. If it is open, load your questions early. If it is closed, switch modes: every gap becomes a written qualification, and vague ones do not survive.
Test the basis of payment. Are quantities warranted? Does P&G adjust on remeasure? If both answers are no, your overhead recovery rides on the accuracy of someone else's take-off — price accordingly.
Price escalation and LDs as line items, not moods. A 10-month fixed-rate programme has a calculable escalation exposure and a calculable LD exposure. Put figures on both and set the margin looking at them.
Make the margin decision off a contingency table. One page: each risk, its allowance, its qualification. If the table says the risks outweigh the job, the register just earned its keep by telling you not to tender.

FAQ — tender risk registers for subcontractors

Q1: What belongs on a tender risk register? Anything the documents transfer to you that you cannot fully control: fluctuation clauses, LDs, quantity warranties, provisional sums, unknown ground conditions, hazardous materials, payment terms, and any document referenced but not supplied.

Q2: How is a risk register different from just adding margin? Blanket margin prices every risk at the same rate — over-pricing the benign lines and under-pricing the dangerous ones. A register attaches each risk to the specific lines it touches, so the allowance lands where the exposure is and the tender stays competitive everywhere else.

Q3: What makes a tender qualification effective? Specificity. Name the document, the clause, or the assumption: "contaminated soil disposal priced against classification X; reclassification treated as a variation" survives negotiation. "Contractor reserves rights regarding ground conditions" does not.

Q4: Can a subcontractor tender without seeing the full conditions of contract? You can, but only with a qualification making the offer subject to review of the full conditions — and a genuine willingness to walk away if the retentions, bonds, or payment terms turn out unsurvivable. Never let a tender become binding against documents you have not read.

Q5: How long does a 13-point register add to pricing a tender like this? On this job, roughly a day of reading and writing before the rates started, against about two weeks of pricing effort overall. It repaid that day several times over by redirecting the pricing effort and producing the qualifications that protected the number after submission.

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About Trueworks

Trueworks is built by Steve Parker — 20 years on the analytical side of NZ construction. Variation reviews, contract advisory, programme review, and document-heavy estimation work. Trueworks is the productisation of that practice for NZ trades and builders: the same defensible analysis, at a price and pace a working contractor can actually use.

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