Free NEC Contract Communication Templates
By Sheldon Wright MCICES. Last reviewed September 2026. For the NEC3 and NEC4 ECC and ECS.
Twenty-five forms, one for each communication the contract requires, in a single workbook per edition. Not a folder of Word files to keep in step: you fill in the Setup sheet once — main contract or subcontract, the parties, the project references, any period your contract has amended — and every form reads from it. The party names change with it, and so does every reply-by date.
What is in it
Communications and instructions
General communication · Confirmation of a verbal instruction · Instruction · Instruction to quote for a proposed instruction
Early warning
Early warning
Compensation events
Compensation event notification · Reply to a compensation event notification · Notification of a failure to reply · Reply to a quotation · Notification of own assessment · Implementation of a compensation event
Defects
Instruction to search for a Defect · Notification of a Defect · Notification that a Defect has been corrected · Proposal to accept a Defect · Defects Certificate · Assessment of an uncorrected Defect
Completion, take over and access
Completion certificate · Sectional completion certificate · Take over certificate · Notification of access
Payment
Payment certificate · Pay less notice
Delegation and termination
Delegation of the Project Manager or Supervisor actions · Termination certificate
Each form carries the clause it is given under, in the numbering of its own edition. NEC3 and NEC4 renumbered a good deal between them — the early warning moved from clause 16 to clause 15, and the whole of the Defects section shifted — so the two workbooks are not the same file with the cover changed.
Both editions, sent to your work email
NEC4 Contract Communications Pack (Excel)
Twenty-five forms for the NEC4 ECC and ECS: early warnings, instructions, the whole compensation event sequence, defects, completion, take over, payment and pay less, delegation and termination. Fill the Setup sheet once and every form takes the parties, the references and every reply-by date from it.
NEC3 Contract Communications Pack (Excel)
The same twenty-five forms for the NEC3 ECC and ECS, with that edition’s clause numbers and periods.
How to use them well
The Setup sheet first, and properly. Every form is wrong until that sheet is right, because the parties, the addresses and every calculated date come from it. Ten minutes there is the whole setup.
Check the periods against your own contract. The standard values are in the table, one column for the main contract and one for the subcontract. Where a Z clause has changed a period, type yours into the “Your contract” column and every date follows from it.
Issue the form, not the spreadsheet. Print or save the tab as a PDF and send it the way your contract requires. Under clause 13 a communication has to be in a form that can be read, copied and recorded, and it takes effect when it is received at the address in the Contract Data.
Dates are calendar weeks. The standard forms do not exclude weekends or bank holidays, and neither does the workbook.
What a form cannot do
A notification template will get the clause, the parties and the dates right. It cannot tell you whether the event really is a compensation event, whether the quotation that follows is properly built up, or whether the delay being claimed is visible on the accepted programme. That judgement is still yours.
When the quotation comes back.
Clause 60 reads the notification, the quotation, the programme and the records against your contract including its Z clauses, and returns a structured review in about ten minutes. Every finding is cited to its source document and labelled Fact or Inference. It is assistive: you make the call.
These templates are general guidance on the standard NEC3 and NEC4 forms. They are not legal advice and they do not account for the amendments in your contract. Check every date and clause reference against your own contract, including any Z clauses. NEC is a registered trade mark of its owner; Clause 60 Limited is not affiliated with or endorsed by NEC.