Construction and services clauses

Defining and changing the job

Scope of work sets out exactly what is included and excluded, and it is the clause every later dispute is measured against. Construction variations sets the process for changing that scope, including written directions and how the price is adjusted. Latent conditions covers problems nobody could reasonably have seen before work started, such as rock or contamination underground, and who pays for them. Materials and workmanship sets the quality of what is used and how it is done. Read scope of work first, because a vague scope turns every change into an argument about whether it is a variation at all.

Getting paid

Progress claims sets when a contractor can claim for work done and what the claim must show. Security of payment explains the state legislation that gives contractors a statutory right to progress payments and a fast adjudication process when a claim is disputed, which a contract cannot contract out of. The rules, deadlines and forms differ by state, so the page names the state its sample follows. Read these two together, since a contract's own timetable still has to fit within the statutory one.

The site, handover and after

Site access sets when the contractor can enter and what it must work around, and safety sets obligations under work health and safety law. Principal contractor names the party responsible for managing safety on a construction project, a role with specific legal duties. Practical completion defines when the work is finished enough to hand over, which usually releases retention and starts the defects period. Defects liability sets how long the contractor must return to fix faults found after handover. Each page carries sample wording and variants, and none of it is legal advice.

Every page in this collection

• Construction variations clause: directing and pricing changed work

  Almost every building job changes between the drawings and handover, and variations are where most construction money disputes begin. A clause that fixes the paperwork and the pricing method before work starts turns each change into a calculation rather than a negotiation held after the concrete has set.

• Defects liability clause: fixing defects after practical completion

  The defects liability period is the contractor's right to fix its own work at cost as much as the owner's right to have it fixed. It also decides when retention and security come back, so its dates matter to cash flow long after the last trade leaves site.

• Latent conditions clause: when the ground is not as expected

  Nobody sees under the slab or behind the wall until the work starts, so this clause allocates the one risk neither party can fully price. Contractors who miss its notice deadline often lose a claim they would otherwise have won.

• Materials and workmanship clause: the quality standard for the build

  Drawings say what to build, but this clause says how well, and it is the benchmark every defect claim is measured against. Naming the code, the standards and the manufacturer's instructions turns a vague promise of quality into something both sides can check.

• Practical completion clause: when the works are ready to use

  Practical completion is the date the contractor stops paying delay damages, the defects period starts and part of the retention comes back, so both sides watch it closely. A definition that relies on the word practical alone leaves each side free to argue its own meaning at the moment money changes hands.

• Principal contractor clause: appointing the WHS lead on a project

  Under the model WHS laws a construction project has only one principal contractor, and the role carries duties that cannot be met without real control of the site. A clause that appoints a builder in name while the owner keeps control fails in the way that matters most, on the day of an incident.

• Progress claims clause: getting paid as the work advances

  Construction runs on progress payments, because a contractor cannot fund months of labour and materials until handover. The clause sets the rhythm of that cash, and in every Australian state it works alongside security of payment laws that override anything in it restricting a claim.

• Scope of work clause: what the price includes and excludes

  Most arguments about extras are really arguments about scope, because a price only means something once everyone agrees what it buys. Writing the exclusions down is what stops a homeowner assuming the tiles were included and a contractor assuming they were not.

• Security of payment clause: working with the state payment laws

  Security of payment laws give contractors and suppliers down the chain a fast route to progress payments, and nobody can contract out of them. The clause matters because missed deadlines under those laws cost real money, and a contract that states the dates and service addresses plainly keeps both sides on time.

• Site access clause: possession, hours and conditions of entry

  A contractor cannot start, and the programme cannot hold, if the site is not available on the day it was promised. On occupied sites such as schools, hospitals and aged care homes, the access clause also protects the people who live or work there while the builders are in.

• Workplace safety clause: the WHS duties a contractor accepts on site

  Safety duties under Australian law cannot be handed away by contract, but a contract can make sure each business on site knows what it must do and when. That clarity is what stops a crew starting work at height on a morning when nobody has handed over the safe work method statement.