A construction contract allocates far more than price and scope. It allocates delay risk, payment rights, design responsibility, liability, security, and what happens when things go wrong.
Which they do. Not always, but often enough that the clauses nobody read at signing become the clauses everybody reads at the end.
General conditions, schedules, annexures, drawings, specifications, amendments. They all form part of the deal and they routinely conflict with each other.
Check every document is listed and attached. Then find the order of precedence clause, which tells you which document wins when two of them say different things. If there is no precedence clause, that is worth raising before signature rather than after a dispute.
Latent conditions are the classic example. Rock where the geotech said clay. Contamination nobody disclosed. Services that are not on any drawing.
The contract decides who carries that risk, and the answer varies enormously between standard forms and amended ones. Find out who bears it, and find out what notice and evidence you need to provide to claim time or cost. A contract can give you a right and then make it almost impossible to exercise.
Payment clauses should align with the applicable security of payment legislation and preserve clear claim and response procedures.
When can claims be made, and what must they contain? Who assesses them, when is payment due, and how are set-offs explained? Then look at security and retention. Bank guarantees and retention money affect cash flow during the job and risk after it, so check when security must be released and when it can be called on.
A variation mechanism should deal with direction, approval, valuation and time consequences before the changed work proceeds.
Who may direct a variation, and in what form? Verbal instructions on site are the single most common source of unpaid work in this industry. And ask the harder question: can the contractor recover where urgent work proceeded before the price was agreed?
This is the clause that costs the most money and gets the least attention.
Strict notice, causation and evidence requirements determine whether delay relief is actually available. A missed deadline can kill an otherwise valid claim for time or money. So identify which claims are subject to a time bar, then check the notice period, the required content and the service method are workable in practice, not just in theory.
A five-day notice requirement means nothing if your site team does not know it exists.
Twenty clauses across the foundation, money and time, claims and quality, and liability and exit. Written for builders, contractors, subcontractors, developers and principals. Includes an action page to turn your review into proposed amendments.
Practical completion needs an objective test. Without one you get arguments about occupation, minor defects, certificates and release of security.
For the defects liability period, check how long it runs, whether it restarts after rectification, and whether another contractor can rectify and recover the cost. On design, look closely at the standard imposed. Fitness for purpose is a higher obligation than reasonable skill and care, and your professional indemnity insurance may not cover it.
That last point is worth checking with your broker before you sign, not after.
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Twenty clauses across the foundation, money and time, claims and quality, and liability and exit. Written for builders, contractors, subcontractors, developers and principals. Includes an action page to turn your review into proposed amendments.
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