5-day notice & claim preservation software for public-works contractors.
Every public-works contract carries notice clauses that bar a claim if written notice is late. Clerxi parses the Standard Specifications and Special Provisions on intake, surfaces every notice window, and assembles the recovery package contemporaneously.
Built for general contractors and specialty trades on Caltrans, federal, and state-funded public-works jobs where a missed 5-day notice forfeits the claim regardless of the merits.
- Differing site condition notices
- Directed change & constructive change notices
- Schedule impact / delay notices
- Notice of potential claim
The clause that quietly decides whether a claim survives.
Public-works contracts contain notice clauses that bar a claim if the contractor fails to give written notice of a changed condition, directed change, or impact within a short window — commonly 5 days, 7 days, or 10 days, depending on the specification. The clause is not a formality. It is a condition precedent. Missed notice means a forfeited claim, no matter how strong the underlying facts are.
Clerxi was founded after a $2M public-works claim was unrecoverable — not because the contractor was wrong on the merits, but because the documentation did not exist when the dispute opened. The notice never went out in writing. The daily report mentioned the condition but did not cite the clause. The photos lived on a phone. By the time mediation opened, the proof was in seventeen places, none of them admissible.
That is the gap this product was built to close. Not a better filing cabinet. A system that knows what the contract requires, when, and from whom — and that produces the paperwork automatically as the field generates the conditions.
Three regimes. Different windows. One missed clause forfeits the claim.
California state public works
Notice obligations commonly seen in Caltrans Standard Specifications §4-1.05 (Changes), §4-1.06 (Differing Site Conditions), and §5-1.43 (Potential Claims), and in language commonly seen in California Public Contract Code §7104 (differing site conditions on certain public projects) and §9203 (progress payments / retention context). Windows and required recipients vary by spec — and by Special Provision.
Federal contracts
Notice obligations commonly seen in FAR Part 43 (Contract Modifications), including language commonly seen in FAR 52.243-4 (Changes), FAR 52.243-7 (Notification of Changes), and FAR 52.236-2 (Differing Site Conditions) on construction contracts. Federal notice windows typically run in calendar days from the contractor becoming aware of the event.
Agency Special Provisions
The Special Provisions for the specific job will often override the Standard Specifications with tighter windows — 3-day notice for a differing site condition, 24-hour notice of a directed change, same-day notice on certain safety events. The Special Provisions, not the Standard Specs, are usually the controlling document on the project at hand.
Section numbers and clause citations above are presented as references commonly seen in these regimes — the controlling language on any given project is the executed contract, the current edition of the Standard Specifications, and the project-specific Special Provisions. Clerxi parses all three on intake.
The five quiet failures that bar a claim.
- A verbal flag in the field, no written noticeThe superintendent flags an issue verbally to the inspector. No written notice goes out inside the clause window. The clock runs and the claim is procedurally barred before the cost impact is even quantified.
- A daily report that does not cite the clauseThe condition gets mentioned in the daily report — but the report is not routed to the contracting officer or engineer of record, and it does not reference the notice clause. A daily report alone is usually not a substitute for a formal notice letter.
- Notice routed to the wrong partyThe notice goes to the owner's on-site representative when the clause requires routing to the contracting officer or engineer of record. Misrouted notice can be treated as no notice.
- No evidence package tied to the conditionNo photograph with GPS coordinates and a timestamp at the location. No measurement of the impact. No tie-back to the RFI. The notice is a paragraph with nothing to substantiate it when counsel opens the file twelve months later.
- No audit trail of what was sent and whenThe notice is drafted, edited, possibly resent, and nobody can produce the original delivery confirmation. The owner argues the notice was late or amended. Without an immutable audit log, the contractor cannot rebut.
Contract-first. Field-first. Dispute-first.
Most construction tools organize paperwork after the fact. Clerxi parses the contract on intake and drives the schedule of paperwork from the contract terms automatically.
Parse the contract on intake
On contract upload, Clerxi parses the Standard Specifications and Special Provisions. Every notice clause and its window is extracted and indexed against the project.
Surface live notice obligations
As daily reports and RFIs land, the system flags any condition that triggers a clause window — and counts down the days remaining to deliver notice.
Draft the notice letter
Generate the notice letter from a clause-specific template, cross-linked to the daily report, the photograph evidence, and the cited clause language.
Route with delivery confirmation
After human signoff, route the notice to the contracting officer or engineer of record with delivery confirmation captured to the project record.
Attach contemporaneous evidence
Photos with GPS coordinates and timestamps. Daily reports. RFIs. Cost impact ledgers. All cross-linked to the notice the moment it is sent.
Audit-trail every version
Every draft, edit, and recipient is logged in a tamper-evident audit trail tied to the authenticated user — the same record that becomes evidence in dispute.
What claims counsel actually needs — assembled before the dispute opens.
When a public-works claim moves to mediation or litigation, the burden is on the contractor to produce a contemporaneous record that survives cross-examination. Clerxi assembles that record across the project lifecycle so the recovery package is ready on day one of the dispute — not reconstructed eighteen months later from three inboxes and a foreman’s phone.
- Notice letter with the clause cited and the proof of delivery within the contractual window
- Daily reports covering the condition, cross-linked to the notice
- Photographs with GPS coordinates and timestamps captured at the location
- RFIs opened on the condition and the responses received
- Change-order requests with the underlying scope, time, and cost detail
- Cost impact ledger broken out by labor, equipment, materials, subcontractor, and overhead
- Schedule impact analysis tied to the baseline schedule and the as-built
- Owner correspondence on the condition, in chronological order
- Audit trail showing every document version, author, and timestamp
Draft the notice in seconds. Send it only after a human signs off.
Clerxi uses Claude to draft the notice letter from three inputs: the underlying daily report covering the condition, the photographic evidence captured at the location, and the cited clause language pulled from the contract on intake. The draft arrives in the project manager’s queue already referencing the right clause, the right party, and the right factual record.
The draft is never auto-sent. A person reviews the letter, edits the language, and signs off before delivery. A notice letter is a legal communication. The system is designed to eliminate the drafting bottleneck, not the human judgment that decides what gets sent on behalf of the company.
Notice clauses, in plain English.
What is a 5-day notice on a public-works construction contract?
A "5-day notice" is the contractor's written notice to the owner, contracting officer, or engineer of record that a changed condition, directed change, differing site condition, or impact event has occurred — delivered within the window the contract requires, commonly 5, 7, or 10 days. The window starts when the contractor becomes aware of the condition. Missing the window is the most common reason a winnable public-works claim is barred from recovery.
Who decides if a condition is a differing site condition?
The contracting officer or engineer of record makes the initial determination on most public-works contracts. On federal work, FAR 52.236-2 sets out the Type I and Type II differing site condition standards. On California state work, language commonly seen in Caltrans Standard Specifications §4-1.06 governs. The contractor's job is to preserve the claim by giving timely written notice — the merits are decided later, and only if notice was given on time.
Can a daily report substitute for a formal notice letter?
In most cases, no. Daily reports document what happened in the field, but the notice clause typically requires written notice to a specific party (contracting officer, engineer of record, owner's representative) referencing the relevant clause. A daily report that mentions the condition but is not routed to the right party and does not reference the clause will usually not satisfy the notice requirement. The defensible practice is a separate notice letter, cross-linked to the daily report as supporting evidence.
What's the difference between a notice of changed condition and a change-order request?
A notice preserves the contractor's right to recover by alerting the owner within the contractual window that a compensable event has occurred. A change-order request comes later — it is the quantified ask for time and money once the impact is known. The notice is the gate. If the notice is late or never sent, the change-order request can be denied on procedural grounds regardless of the merits.
How is a federal FAR 52.243-4 notice different from a state public-works notice?
FAR 52.243-4 (Changes) and FAR 52.243-7 (Notification of Changes) on federal contracts impose notice obligations that, in language commonly seen in those clauses, require written notice within a defined window — typically measured in calendar days — for any act or failure that the contractor considers a change. State public-works contracts (for example, language commonly seen in California Public Contract Code §7104 for differing site conditions on certain public projects, and §9203 for retention/progress payment context) operate under separate statutory and contractual notice regimes. The windows, recipients, and required content differ. The Standard Specifications and Special Provisions for each contract are the source of truth — Clerxi parses both at intake.
What evidence is needed to prove the notice was delivered on time?
Claims counsel typically want: (1) the notice letter itself with the clause cited and the condition described, (2) proof of delivery within the window — email timestamp, certified mail receipt, or owner portal submission confirmation, (3) the daily report covering the same condition, (4) photographs with GPS coordinates and timestamps tied to the location, (5) any RFI or correspondence opened on the same condition, and (6) an audit trail showing the notice was not altered after delivery. Clerxi assembles all six contemporaneously.
Does Clerxi auto-send notice letters?
No. Clerxi drafts the notice letter from the daily report, the condition photos, and the cited clause language, and routes it for human review and signoff. A notice letter is a legal communication on a public-works contract. It is never sent without a person — typically the project manager or operations lead — signing off on the language. Auto-send is intentionally disabled.
Bring your next contract.
We’ll show you every notice clause inside it.
A 15-minute demo. Upload a real Standard Specifications and Special Provisions packet — Clerxi will parse it live and surface every notice window before the call ends.