Used on more than 2,500 construction projects in buildings, infrastructure and energy
The standard form stops being standard the moment the client edits it.
Standard forms such as NS 8407, AB 18, NEC, JCT or FIDIC are balanced as written. The risk moves through what the client deletes, what the client adds, and what the client leaves unselected. The third is the one that gets missed, because an unselected option looks like nothing happened.
01
Design risk buried in one sentence
One clause near the novation, and the client's design becomes yours.
02
Time bars in fixed days
Seven or fourteen days, absolute, with loss of entitlement the site team never saw.
03
Ground risk moved indirectly
"For information only" on the geotech report does the same job as a full transfer.
04
Damages up, caps off
Carve-outs that decide what the overall cap is actually worth.
The contract review, clause by clause.
Volve reads the full tender and checks it against the standard form and your positions.
Risk drivers per package, across cost, schedule and quality
Critical items flagged, each with the clause or sheet behind it
The go/no-go and the risk price on the same basis
Red flags where the contract departs from your positions
Obligations, notice periods and time bars, with their triggers
Each finding with the clause behind it
Your risk checklist run across the full tender
Volve’s templates, your organisation’s or your own
Answers traced to source, comparable across projects
From the standard form to a contract you chose.
Volve shows every deviation from the form and where it lands against your positions. You decide what to do about each one.
Deleted: a protection the form gave you, taken out
Added: a client clause the form never had
Left unselected: an option not chosen, which reads as nothing happened
Unchanged: as the standard form, no deviation
What commercial teams ask Volve before go/no-go.
Tasks from a normal tender week. Every answer comes with its source.
Risk per package
Risk sits in packages before it sits in a price.
“What are the main cost, schedule and quality risks in this tender, per package?”
What comes back
Risk drivers per package, critical ones flagged, each with the clause or sheet behind it.
Find the sentence that moves the design risk
Every standard keeps the client’s design at the client’s risk until one sentence moves it.
“Where in this contract does the client’s design responsibility transfer to us?”
What comes back
The clause, the exact sentence, and how it differs from the standard form.
Check the damages and the caps
Damages up, caps off, and carve-outs that decide what the cap is worth.
“What are the delay damages, how many milestones carry them, and what sits outside the overall cap?”
What comes back
The damages rate, the damages-bearing dates, the overall cap and the carve-outs, each with its clause.
Ground risk, direct and indirect
The indirect version calls the geotechnical report “for information only”, which does the same job with less visibility.
“Does this contract transfer ground risk to us, directly or indirectly?”
What comes back
Every clause that touches ground conditions, the survey date, and what the report actually covers.
When the money arrives
The lag is the payment period plus the certification cycle, and retention decides the rest.
“Show me the payment period, the certification cycle, the retention terms, and when our security is released.”
What comes back
The payment and certification timeline, retention and its release trigger, and whether the client’s own security was struck out.
Run your risk checklist
The same questions on every tender, answered from the documents.
“Run our risk checklist on this tender.”
What comes back
A yes or no per check, each with the clause behind it, comparable with earlier tenders.
GO FURTHER
The patterns, the checklist and the product
Tender pattern · one-page note
Top 7 risk shifts in construction contracts
Where the risk moves when the client edits the form.
Checklist
Contract review checklist
The clauses to check before the contract is signed.
Product update
Red flag contract review is live in Volve
How Volve flags the clauses that move your risk.
A go/no-go you can defend
Every red flag shows the clause behind it.
The same method every time
Your positions and checks applied to every contract.
Time back for judgement
The reading is done. The team’s hours go to the red flags, the clarifications and the price of the risk.
From the bid team to the contract.
Bid, commercial, legal and delivery teams work from the same view of the contract. Findings and sign-offs are shared, so the risk the bid team assessed is the risk the project team carries into delivery.
Tender & bid leads
Make the go/no-go call on what the contract actually says.
Contract, commercial & legal
Review deviations from your positions and the obligations you’d take on.
Project delivery
Inherit the obligations, time bars and positions the bid team found.
Volve helps efficiently identify contractual deviations and hidden risk elements across the full contract material, providing a complete foundation for legal risk assessment.
Ruben Øverby
Attorney-at-Law, Skanska
Bring a real tender and we’ll run it through Volve with you. You’ll see where it deviates from your positions, the obligations and time bars you’d take on, and what the latest addendum changed, each with its clause. Your team makes the call.
A working session on your own documents
Deviations, obligations and what changed
No preparation needed from your team
Book a 30-Minute Demo
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