Provisional Sum

A provisional sum is an allowance inserted into the contract sum for work that cannot be fully described or priced at tender, adjusted to the actual cost plus defined profit and attendance when the work is instructed.

A provisional sum is an honest placeholder: the contract knows the work is coming but not its shape. Defined provisional sums include the contractor\'s attendance and profit in the adjustment; undefined ones leave those to be argued — the distinction is worth checking before relying on either.

The commercial danger is drift. Allowances set at tender age badly if the design matures around them, and a project with provisional sums carrying double-digit percentages of the contract sum has not really been tendered at all. The discipline is to convert allowances into real prices while decisions are still cheap.

Related: variations · cost plan · dayworks