Construction Contract Drafting Considerations

When a construction project is planned, whether it be a large commercial construction project, a new residence, or even a renovation to an existing property, to decrease future problems, care must be taken to include essential terms in the contract. The failure to properly address essential terns will lead to project confusion, extended completion time and expenses, as well as raise the likelihood of legal disputes arising.
Identify Parties and their responsibilities.
With the number of parties involved in a typical Millennials Home Renovations project, a clear understanding of who is involved is essential.
Scope of Work
In addition to knowing the parties involved in the work, it is also necessary to determine what each person will be performing on the project, also known as their Scope of Work. To avoid confusion between contractors, subcontractors, and suppliers the Scope of Work should clearly state what each party is responsible for.
Payment Terms
Nothing causes misunderstandings faster on a construction project then having work performed before a clear understanding and approval of the corresponding price to be charged is reached. By clearly defining the payment terms these potential misunderstandings can be avoided.
Scheduling and Delays
The orderly, efficient, and timely completion of a construction project rests with the proper advance scheduling of the trades, and anticipating potential delays. Proper contract language may be used to assign financial liability for any delays caused by parties failure to perform in their agreed time frame.
Unanticipated Conditions
There are times that parties to a construction project must proceed on certain assumptions as to existing conditions. Often conditions needing to be examined are either hidden or otherwise concealed. After work has commenced however it may be discovered that those basic assumptions as to conditions may be quite wrong. Who should bear the risk of any unseen conditions?
Changes to the Work
It would be nice once ‘final plans’ are issued to think that no subsequent changes were to be made, but that is not realistic. Typically there may be multiple changes introduced after the approval of ‘finished designs’. Sometimes the Owner has made a change, or perhaps approved materials are not available and substitutions must be used, or there may be changes to accommodate an incomplete design. An effective construction contract will include provisions to allow for these later changes.
Termination and Dispute Homes Built On Your Land With No Money Down Resolution
Having taken the time to properly address what should happen should the parties choose to terminate the agreement, is one of the biggest benefits provided in having a proper construction contract drafted. The strength or weakness of any construction contract is tested when a dispute arises that requires the contract to be enforced in Court. These provisions may guide and dictate how any subsequent legal actions or arbitrations may be commenced and these provisions can provide you an opportunity to determine this process.