What should an AMC contract contain — the clauses that make an MEP maintenance contract enforceable

An AMC is easy to sign and hard to enforce, because most of them name a price, a period and a list of equipment and stop there. A year later the client believes they bought uptime and the contractor believes they sold four visits, and the contract cannot settle it because it never said. The clauses below are the ones that make an MEP or solar AMC mean something — drawn from the contracts we write and from the disputes we have been asked to untangle.

1. The asset register

Every item under the contract, by make, model, serial number, location, capacity and age, with its condition at the start of the contract. This is the schedule the rest of the contract refers to. An AMC "for the HVAC system" without a register covers whatever each side later says it covered.

2. Baseline condition report

Before the contract starts, a joint survey recording the state of each asset — what works, what does not, what is at the end of its life — with the readings the AMC will later be measured against: earth resistance, insulation resistance, pump curves, air quantities, performance ratio for solar. Without a baseline, every fault in year one becomes an argument about whether it was there in year zero. The commissioning records from the original installation are the ideal baseline where they exist.

3. Scope — comprehensive or labour-only, and what "parts" means

State which model applies. If comprehensive, list what is excluded from "parts" — typically consumables, items damaged by misuse or external events, and major components beyond an agreed value or age. If labour-only, state how parts are priced and approved. The economics of each depend on the plant's age; the contract should reflect the register, not a template.

4. The preventive maintenance schedule

By asset: what is done, how often, and to which standard — OEM recommendation, the applicable IS code, or the client's own procedure. Filter changes, oil tests, thermography, relay tests, pump-start tests, module cleaning, each with its interval. A "quarterly visit" is not a schedule; it is a calendar entry.

5. SLA definitions, in measurable terms

• Coverage hours — 24×7, business hours, or per asset class
• Response time — when an engineer is on site, or on the call, from the logged report
• Resolution or temporary-restoration time — with critical assets named and given tighter limits
• Escalation — who is called when a limit is missed
• Remedy — service credits, or the right to bring in a third party at the contractor's cost, when limits are repeatedly missed

"Prompt", "immediate" and "best efforts" do not belong in this section.

6. Statutory obligations

State whether the contract carries the periodic testing, logbooks and filings for Fire NOC renewal, CEIG periodic inspection, pollution-board consent renewal, lift licence renewal, DG emission and noise compliance, and water-tank cleaning records — and if not, who does. A lapsed Fire NOC is usually the product of an AMC that was silent here.

7. Spares and consumables

The critical-spares list to be held on site or by the contractor; who owns them; how consumables are priced; and the approval route for parts above an agreed value. On ageing plant, this section decides the real cost of the contract.

8. Reporting

A visit report per visit with the readings taken; a monthly summary with faults, response times against the SLA and open items; a solar performance-ratio report where solar is in scope; and an annual condition review that updates the baseline and flags what will need replacement. The report is the client's evidence that the schedule happened.

9. Warranties and OEM interface

Which assets are still under manufacturer warranty, and the rule that servicing under the AMC must not void them — with the OEM engaged for warranty work and the AMC contractor coordinating it.

10. Access, safety and the client's obligations

Site access, shutdown windows, permits to work, the client's safety rules, and what the client must provide — power, water, storage, the drawings and O&M manuals from handover.

11. Term, price adjustment and exit

The period; how the price changes at renewal; termination for persistent SLA failure; and what is handed back at exit — the updated register, the logbooks, the statutory files and the spares. An AMC that ends with the records leaving in the contractor's van has cost the client the next contractor's first year.

Using this as a checklist

Read a proposed AMC against these eleven headings. Missing sections are not savings; they are the disputes the contract will not be able to settle. Our AMC scope is written to this structure, and the AMC buyer's guide lists what to have ready — the asset list, the O&M documentation and the statutory status — before asking for a proposal.