Mohamed Hisham
Senior Commercial Contracts Specialist
Mohamed is a senior commercial contracts specialist at CALIM, working on variation management, EOT claims, contract strategy, and commercial administration for contractors across the GCC. His articles are grounded in day-to-day contract administration on live projects and are reviewed by CALIM's senior leadership before publication.
Areas of Expertise
Articles by Mohamed
20 articles published
Back-to-Back Subcontracts: What You're Really Signing Up For
The subcontract says your obligations are back-to-back with the main contract. You have never seen the main contract. Yo...
Onerous Clauses to Hunt For: Indemnities, Set-Off and Uncapped Liability
A subcontract can bankrupt an SME long before a single dispute reaches a tribunal - through three clauses that quietly t...
Valuing Variations Under FIDIC: Rates, Dayworks and Fair Value Explained
A variation is only worth what it is valued at, and under FIDIC the valuation follows rules that many SME contractors do...
How to Review a Construction Subcontract Before You Sign: A Practitioner's Checklist
The riskiest hour in a subcontract's life is the hour before you sign it. That is the only moment you have leverage, and...
How to Notify a Variation Under FIDIC (Red & Yellow Book): The Notice Mechanics That Protect Your Entitlement
On a FIDIC project the difference between a paid variation and an unpaid one is rarely the engineering. It is the paperw...
Missed the Variation Notice Deadline? What Time Bars Really Mean for Your Claim
A time bar does not care whether your claim was right. It cares whether your notice was on time. Miss the deadline in a ...
Red Flags in a Subcontract Handed Down by the Main Contractor
The subcontract you are handed was not drafted to be fair. It was drafted to move risk down the chain, off the main cont...
Delay Analysis Methods Explained: As-Planned vs As-Built, Windows and Impacted Programmes
Most delay claims fail not because the wrong method was chosen, but because the right method was applied with the wrong ...
Preventing Disputes Over Variation Valuation Before They Start
Most variation disputes are not born at the valuation stage. They are born months earlier, when nobody agreed on rates, ...
Fixed Price vs Remeasurement vs Cost-Reimbursable: Choosing Your Risk
Every pricing model is a bet on who absorbs uncertainty. Fixed price vs remeasurement vs cost reimbursable is not a tech...
Change Order vs Variation vs Compensation Event: A Contractor's Plain-English Guide
Change order, variation, and compensation event are not synonyms. They belong to different contract frameworks, carry di...
When Does a Contractor Actually Need a Contracts Manager?
Most contractors do not ask whether they need a contracts manager until something has already gone wrong. Here are the f...
Should an SME Contractor Build an In-House Commercial Team or Outsource Contract Administration?
A senior contracts manager in the GCC costs around QAR 45,000 a month. One person cannot cover legal, commercial, and te...
Are You Signing a Project or a Contract?
In construction, 98% of megaprojects face cost overruns or delays. In IT, fewer than 35% of projects are delivered on ti...
Variation Capture: The Discipline That Pays for Itself
Variations are where contractors either recover value or quietly surrender it. A practical guide to building the capture...
Time Impact vs. As-Planned vs. As-Built: Choosing the Right Methodology
Not all delay analysis methodologies carry the same weight. When to use each method, what arbitrators expect, and how to...
Why Do So Many EOT Claims Get Rejected?
We review hundreds of Extension of Time claims across the GCC every year. The delays are real. The costs are legitimate....
Signing a Contract Feels Like Protection. It Is Not.
90% of construction disputes trace back to poorly drafted contracts and inadequate contract documentation. The risk was ...
A Full Contract Department for 70% Less Than Building In-House
A single contracts manager costs QAR 15,000 to 30,000+ per month. They typically cover legal or technical, not both. CAL...
One Firm. Five Markets. Local Knowledge at Every Table.
Contracts do not follow one set of rules. They follow the rules of wherever the project sits. CALIM operates across Qata...
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