Excess Construction Charges: The UK Data
The quoted-ECC distribution on UK leased-line orders — median, quartiles, tail and incidence, from AMVIA’s corpus. We’re not aware of any other UK source publishing this.
The quoted-ECC distribution — set 2026-08-08
What an excess construction charge is
An excess construction charge (ECC) is the one-off cost a carrier quotes when connecting your site needs physical build work beyond the standard installation — new duct, road crossings, wayleaves, or distance to the nearest fibre spine. It arrives after survey, often weeks into an order, and it is the single most common reason a leased-line project stalls: the monthly rental was budgeted, the £2,197 median build charge was not.
What the distribution actually looks like
The published corpus data — a distribution we’re not aware of any other UK source publishing — shows a long tail. Half of quoted ECCs land at or under £2,197, and the middle half of quotes run between £348 and £7,412. But the tail is where the danger is: one in ten quoted ECCs reaches £16,000 or more, and the largest quoted amount in the corpus is £79,000. These are quoted amounts on real orders (“site-deduped tracker records + priced email threads, pooled”), not estimates.
How often ECCs happen
Across 1313 ethernet provisioning orders in the corpus, at least 1.6% of sites carried a recorded ECC. That figure is deliberately published as a floor, not a rate — the counting method (see the methodology) can miss ECCs, never invent them. Treat “it probably won’t happen to us” as optimism, not planning.
How to de-risk an ECC before you commit
- Compare every network at the address, not one. ECCs are network-specific: a second carrier with closer fibre can turn a five-figure build into a standard install. That comparison is the job of our leased-line service.
- Get the survey before you sign anything else. An ECC quoted after contract puts you negotiating from the wrong side.
- Ask about alternative products. Where the build cost is irreducible, FTTP-based circuits or a different bearer can deliver the requirement without the civils.
- Budget the tail, not the median. A project that survives a £7,412 charge is planned; one that only survives £2,197 is lucky.
Excess construction charges — questions
The median quoted ECC on a UK leased-line order is £2,197, with the middle half of quotes between £348 and £7,412 (n=97, AMVIA corpus, as of 2026-08-08). One in ten quoted ECCs reaches £16,000 or more.
At least 1.6% of ethernet orders in the corpus carried a recorded ECC (n=21 sites over 1313 orders). The figure is a floor, not a rate — the true incidence can be higher.
Often, yes — ECCs are network-specific, so comparing every carrier at the exact address is the single most effective control. Where build cost is genuinely irreducible, alternative products (FTTP-based circuits, different bearers) can meet the requirement without the civils.
The network carrier doing the build sets it, after survey; your provider passes it through. That is why the same site can get radically different ECCs from different networks — and why a network-agnostic comparison protects you.
Put the benchmarks to work
AMVIA prices leased lines across every UK carrier at your exact postcode — benchmarked against this index, from £69/month for 100Mbps.
Related
UK Business Connectivity Pricing Index
All published statistics and open-data downloads.
FTTP leased lines
The product that most often sidesteps a big build charge.
Leased line installation time
What actually happens between order and live — and where ECCs appear.
How this data works
Sources, suppression, framing and versioning.