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The contract setup wizard: payment calendar, retention and the onerous-clause sweep

3 min read · Checked against the product 3 October 2026

Turn a signed subcontract into a working contract profile in about ten minutes: the form, the payment calendar and your own payment terms, retention, the NEC programme and the ten clauses that cost subcontractors money.

The contract setup wizard turns the subcontract you signed into the contract profile that every date in VariationFlow runs from. Open the project and choose “Contract setup wizard”, with the executed subcontract, its particulars and its schedule of amendments in front of you. It is setup help, not legal advice: check every date it produces against the executed contract.

When to use it

On every new commercial project before the first application goes in, and again whenever an amendment changes a period. Payment terms entered on the New Project form are already filled in here. Saving switches on payment and notice tracking for the payment timeline, the Contract Deadlines page and each variation’s notice clocks. Tracking is on the VariationFlow plans; on another plan, the wizard names the one that has it and keeps your answers until you leave the page.

How to do it

1. Contract form. Pick the form named on the front cover: NEC4 ECS (subcontract), NEC4 ECC (main contract), one of the JCT forms, or Other / bespoke for a main contractor’s own terms. Add the edition and, on NEC, the main option. Tick the schedule of amendments box if there is one; nearly every subcontract has one.
2. Payment calendar. Enter the first interim valuation date (on NEC, the first assessment date) and choose the public-holiday region by where the site is: England & Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland.
3. Then the three periods: days to the payment due date, payment terms and the pay-less notice period. Payment terms has buttons for 30, 45 and 60 days, counted from the due date to the final date for payment, and the form’s standard except on JCT. A blank box uses the standard shown in grey.
4. On an NEC form, enter the compensation-event notice period in weeks only if a Z clause changes it. The subcontract’s own period under clause 61.3 is seven weeks, and Z clauses commonly cut it to four or two.
5. Retention and programme. Enter the retention rate. On NEC, tick whether a first programme has to be submitted: until it is, clause 50.5 retains 25% of the Price for Work Done to Date, and the project page warns you.
6. Onerous clauses. Tick each clause that appears in your subcontract and note where it sits, for example “Amendment 12, 21-day condition precedent on all claims”. Ticked clauses stay on the project as watch-outs.
7. Review & save. Check the summary and choose “Save contract profile”.

What “30 days” means here

Subcontracts say it two ways. “Final date for payment 30 days after the due date” is the 30-day button. “Paid 30 days from the valuation” is a total: the line under the box gives the days from the valuation or assessment date to the final date, so set the payment terms until it reads 30.

The ten clauses the sweep looks for

Notices as a condition precedent; payment linked to main-contract certification; extended payment periods of 45 to 60 days or more; a main contractor discount; broad set-off and contra-charge rights; no payment without a written instruction; design responsibility creep; uncapped delay damages flowed down; retention release tied to main-contract events; and adjudication cost-shifting. Each comes with a note on how to spot it.

What good looks like

• All three payment periods typed in from your own subcontract, even one that matches the figure shown: a blank box counts as not recorded. This matters most on JCT: the figures shown are the JCT main contract’s, the pay-less verdict waits for your own, and there is no “Standard” button.
• The holiday region set by the site, not the office. A job in Belfast run from London is Northern Ireland.
• Every onerous clause flagged with its clause reference, so the team knows where to look.

Common mistakes

• Entering a total from the valuation date in the payment terms box, which runs from the due date.
• Leaving the 61.3 period on seven weeks when a Z clause shortens it. A late notice loses the change to the Prices and the Completion Date, however good the claim.
• Leaving the sweep until after signing. Raise the worst clauses before you sign; afterwards, every notice goes in writing, on time.