May 2026
Trust, contracts and outcomes
Built environment professionals estimate that only 58% of projects they worked on over the past three years were delivered on time and on budget, according to new global research from NEC Contracts.
Trust, Contracts and Outcomes: A Global Study of Construction Supply Chain Relationships explores the factors shaping supply chain relationships across the built environment.
Drawing on the views of more than 1,000 industry professionals in Australia, the United Kingdom, Peru, Singapore and Hong Kong, the research paints a clear picture of an industry under commercial pressure.
Poor estimating and job costing (42%), uncontrolled changes in project scope (39%) and late payment culture (33%) were identified as the biggest drivers of business instability, financial stress and disputes across supply chains.
Despite these challenges, the research reveals strong and consistent belief in the value of collaboration across all five markets:
- 83% of respondents agreed that trust between parties is critical to successful project outcomes
- 81% agreed that higher levels of collaboration help issues to be resolved more quickly
- 78% agreed the most effective supply chain relationships are built on trust and cooperation.
When asked what factors matter most in minimising disputes, the leading responses were: effective communication (48%); clear boundaries and processes agreed from the start (39%); positive supply chain relationships built on trust and cooperation (34%); and contracts that support transparency and risk-sharing (34%).
One of the report’s most striking findings is the gap between positive attitudes toward collaborative contracting and actual adoption.
Globally, 79% of those familiar with collaborative contracts said they felt positive about their wider use, yet fewer than 1 in 8 respondents in any country said they actively pushed for their adoption.
Among those familiar with collaborative contracts, the perceived benefits were clear and commercially significant. More than three quarters (76%) agreed collaborative contracting helps protect their business, while 74% agreed it improves project delivery timescales. A further 71% agreed it reduces legal disputes and improper risk allocation, and 69% said it improves project profitability.
Yet awareness and experience remain uneven. In the UK, one in five respondents (20%) had never heard of collaborative contracts – the highest figure across all five markets –and only 27% had worked on projects using them, compared with 40% in Hong Kong and 38% in Australia.
The predominance of traditional contract forms is driven overwhelmingly by client specification, pointing to the critical role client organisations must play in accelerating change.
“The findings of this report confirm what many of us working in collaborative contracting have long understood: that the industry knows what better looks like, but has not yet found a consistent way to get there,” says Rekha Thawrani OBE, Global Director of NEC Contracts.
“The connection between collaborative contracts and better outcomes is clearly evidenced in this research, and the appetite for change is real. What is needed now is decisive action from clients, who have the greatest power to shift the dial.”
Read Trust, Contracts and Outcomes: A Global Study of Construction Supply Chain Relationships.