Read your Particular Conditions before they read you
The Particular Conditions outrank the printed form. How to build a clause-by-clause amendment register, which amendments decide claims, and how to use the register at claim time.
Contract · 6 min read · updated 2026-06-12 · FIDIC 2017 Red Book references unless stated
1. The Particular Conditions outrank the textbook
Under Sub-Clause 1.5 (Priority of Documents), the Particular Conditions sit above the General Conditions: where they conflict, the PCs win. Every answer you remember from the printed form — the 28-day notice, the 8.5 EOT gateways, the payment periods, the liability caps — is only a default that your contract may have rewritten.
Working from the General Conditions on a contract with amended PCs is the most common structural error in claims practice. The first task on any new contract is not filing the PCs — it is mapping them.
2. The amendments that decide claims
Some amendments matter more than others. Watch for: shortened or duplicated notice periods (a 14-day bar hiding in a technical clause); deleted or narrowed 8.5 EOT gateways (exceptionally adverse climate removed, Unforeseeable redefined); changed 3.7 determination timescales; reversed float ownership; payment and interest periods; caps and exclusions on liability; and added formalities for Notices (named addressees, systems, language).
Each of these changes the workflow, not just the wording — a shortened time bar changes your diary; a deleted gateway changes which clause your claim must stand on.
3. Build the register once, use it everywhere
A usable PC register records, per clause: what the General Conditions said, what the PCs changed, and what the change does to time, cost or procedure. Keep it as a working document beside the programme — it is as operational as the Key Dates Register.
Cite from it, not from memory: in correspondence, in claims, and in internal reviews, the clause numbers and periods must be your contract's, not the form's.
4. Re-check at every amendment and every new project
PCs change at addendum, at contract execution, and sometimes by formal instruction mid-project. Each revision can move a deadline or close a gateway. Re-run the mapping when the contract documents change, and never carry a register — or an assumption — from one project to the next.
Educational content for construction professionals. This guide summarises common contract mechanics and industry practice; it is not legal advice, and contract forms differ — your contract’s wording, including its Particular Conditions, governs. ControlsIQ outputs are designed to support professional judgement, not replace it.