Counting the days when there is no statute behind you

In many countries a Security of Payment statute sits behind the contract, giving a fallback timetable and a fast adjudication route when payment fails. The Kingdom has no such Act for private construction. On a FIDIC Red or Yellow Book job the contract timetable is the whole of the timetable, which makes counting the days correctly a core surveying skill rather than a clerical one.

Calendar days, always

FIDIC counts in calendar days. When Sub-Clause 14.6 gives the Engineer 28 days to certify, and Sub-Clause 14.7 gives the Employer 56 days from the Statement to pay, those are calendar days. There is no deduction for Fridays, for weekends, or for public holidays. A period that starts on the first of the month and runs 56 days ends on a fixed date you can read off a calendar, whatever falls in between.

The holidays do not pause the clock

Ramadan, Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Hajj change the pace of work and the availability of the people processing certificates and payments. They do not change the FIDIC count. A Statement submitted just before a long holiday carries its full 56 days, and the deadline arrives on schedule even if the office was quiet for a fortnight of it. The practical effect is that a claim served just before a holiday is at higher risk of a late response, which is a reason to diary the deadline precisely, not to assume the clock waited.

The periods that matter most

• 28 days to certify. The Engineer time under Sub-Clause 14.6, from receipt of the Statement.
• 56 days to pay. The Employer time under Sub-Clause 14.7, from the Statement, with the certification period sitting inside it.
• 28 days to notify. The condition precedent under Sub-Clause 20.1, from awareness of the event, which protects an Extension of Time or a claim.

No adjudication fallback

Where a statute would offer rapid adjudication, a FIDIC job relies on its own dispute mechanism, and government contracts also sit under the Government Tenders and Procurement Law. That makes the front-end discipline more important, not less. The notices given on time and the deadlines counted correctly are what keep entitlements alive, because there is no statutory shortcut to fall back on if a date is missed.

The discipline

Record the date every clock starts, count in calendar days, and diary each deadline the moment the triggering event happens. On a Saudi FIDIC job the contract dates are the only dates you have, and the surveyor who counts them precisely is the one who never has to argue that a missed deadline should be excused.