FIDIC / Legal Reference: Priced within BOQ — not a specific FIDIC clause
The time-related and fixed costs of establishing and maintaining the contractor’s site presence — including site offices, temporary roads, site fencing, welfare facilities, plant mobilisation, site staff, and site security. Prelims form a significant proportion of the contract sum and are central to prolongation cost claims.
What it means in practice
Preliminary items in the BOQ are typically divided into fixed-price items (costs incurred once regardless of programme duration) and time-related items (costs that accrue per week or month). The split between fixed and time-related is crucial to prolongation claims.
In prolongation cost claims, the contractor recovers the additional time-related preliminary costs for the extended period caused by employer-risk events. The contractor must demonstrate that preliminary resources remained on site during the extended period and that their cost was actually incurred.
Where disputes arise
Disputes over prelim costs in prolongation claims arise where: the BOQ does not clearly separate fixed from time-related items; or the contractor cannot demonstrate that preliminary resources were actually maintained on site during the extended period.
UAE Context
In UAE construction, time-related preliminary costs include items specific to the UAE context: accommodation and welfare costs for extended labour camps, extended visa and labour card costs, and the additional cost of maintaining site facilities through UAE summer months.
Related terms
Preliminary item analysis is central to all prolongation cost claims. e-Basel provides specialist cost analysis and claims quantification for UAE construction disputes.
Construction Claims Consultant UAE →Search terms: preliminary items construction UAE · prelims prolongation claim · time related preliminaries FIDIC · site establishment costs claim · construction prelims delay claim