Contract clause
Site access clause: possession, hours and conditions of entry
A site access clause sets when a contractor may enter and use the site, on what hours and conditions, and what the owner must provide for the work to proceed. It covers the date of access, working hours, induction, routes and laydown areas, security, and what happens if the owner gives access late.
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.
Nuwan Madhusanka · Co-founder
4 min read · Published
Sample clause
a refurbishment contract between Bottlebrush Aged Care, a fictional operator of a residential aged care home in Ballarat, Victoria, and Quandong Building Services, a fictional builder renovating one wing while residents stay in the rest
8. Site Access 8.1 Bottlebrush must give Quandong access to the East Wing and the laydown area shown on Drawing A01 from 3 February 2027 (the Access Date). 8.2 Quandong may carry out work on Site between 7.00 am and 5.00 pm on Business Days, and noisy work only between 9.00 am and 3.00 pm, unless Bottlebrush agrees otherwise in writing. 8.3 Every person entering the Site for Quandong must first complete Bottlebrush's site induction and sign in and out at reception. 8.4 Quandong must keep the East Wing separated from occupied areas by lockable hoarding and must use only the service entrance and the route marked on Drawing A01. 8.5 If Bottlebrush gives access after the Access Date, Quandong is entitled to an extension of time equal to the delay and to its reasonable costs caused by it. 8.6 Quandong's right of access ends at Practical Completion, except for access to rectify Defects.
Sample wording, not legal advice.
Variants
Exclusive possession of a vacant site
Greenfield or vacant sites handed over to one contractor for the whole job.
The Principal must give the Contractor possession of the whole Site, to the exclusion of all others, on or before the Date for Possession. From possession until Practical Completion the Contractor is responsible for the security of the Site and for controlling access to it, and the Principal and its consultants may enter only after giving 1 Business Day notice and complying with the Contractor's site rules.
Shared site with separate contractors
Projects where the owner engages separate trades, or its own operations continue alongside the builder.
The Contractor's access to the Site is not exclusive. The Principal may engage Separate Contractors to work on the Site at the same time, and the Contractor must allow them reasonable access and cooperate with them. The Principal must coordinate the Separate Contractors through the weekly site meeting, and the Contractor is entitled to an extension of time for delay caused by a Separate Contractor that it could not reasonably have avoided.
Restricted hours in a shopping centre
Retail tenancies where the centre limits deliveries and noisy work to outside trading hours.
Deliveries to the Premises may be made only through the Centre loading dock between 6.00 am and 9.00 am, and work producing noise, dust or odour may be carried out only between 7.00 pm and 6.00 am. The Contractor must comply with the Centre Fitout Guidelines and obtain a work permit from Centre Management for each shift. The Contract Sum includes all after hours loadings needed to comply with this clause.
What to negotiate
Access date and the completion date
Contractors want the completion date to move day for day with late access, plus the cost of standing crews. Owners accept an extension but try to limit costs to delay beyond a short grace period. The cleanest answer ties the date for completion to the access date in the contract itself, so a late handover moves completion automatically.
Partial access
Owners sometimes hand over part of a site while tenants or operations move out. Contractors ask for a staging plan in the contract showing which areas open on which dates, and for extra time and cost if the sequence changes. Without one, partial access becomes an argument about whether the contractor could have worked around the areas still occupied.
Working hours
Council consent conditions, strata by laws and centre rules often restrict hours more than the owner realises. Contractors want the hours stated in the contract and priced accordingly, with extra cost recoverable if the owner later reduces them. Owners with vulnerable occupants want the right to stop noisy work at short notice for events such as a medical emergency.
Security and handback
Once a contractor has control of the site it usually carries the risk of theft and damage there and insures accordingly. Contractors want that responsibility to end at practical completion or when the owner occupies any part. Owners want keys, codes and hoarding removed and the site left clean on handback, with a joint walk through recorded in writing.
The risk of leaving it out
Without the clause the owner is generally taken to have to give access within a reasonable time, but no date, hours or conditions are fixed, so late access and restrictions on work become arguments about what was reasonable. The owner also loses contractual control over who enters an occupied site, when, and after what induction.
Safety duties on a shared or occupied site
Site access and safety overlap. Under the model work health and safety laws every business involved must consult, cooperate and coordinate with the others who share a duty, and on a construction project the principal contractor is responsible for securing the workplace. Victoria applies its own Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 with similar shared obligations. An access clause should therefore make induction, sign in, hoarding and marked routes contractual obligations, so the people controlling entry and the people controlling the work follow the same rules.
What the owner must provide
Access means more than an unlocked gate. A complete clause lists what the owner must make available and when: the work areas and laydown space, a delivery route, temporary power and water or a statement that the contractor supplies them, amenities for workers, parking, and any existing services that must be isolated before work starts. Each item left unsaid becomes a later variation claim or a delay, and on an occupied site each one also has to fit around the owner's own operations.
Where it sits in a generated document
A generated construction contract places site access early, after the programme and before the working clauses, numbered so the extension of time provisions can refer to late access by clause number. Dates, hours and routes are written in as content, and a drawing reference can be named inside the clause. Where the contract is sent for electronic signing, each signature block party is one signer, so each party's representative signs separately.
Documents that carry this clause
Plumbing works contract with a fixture scope table and a compliance certificateA bathroom job goes over budget in the hour the floor comes up and somebody finds old cast iron drainage. This contract prices every fixture separately, holds a named allowance for what nobody could see, and makes the final payment wait for the compliance certificate.
Landscaping contract template with a plant schedule and an establishment periodA garden build is two jobs in one: construction that is finished when it is finished, and planting that is only finished three months later. This contract prices the construction in four stages, lists every plant with its pot size and quantity, and holds the landscaper to a 90 day establishment period for anything that dies.
Electrical contractor agreement with a licence clause and staged paymentsElectrical work is the one trade where the paperwork at the end matters as much as the work, because without the certificate the installation is not signed off. This agreement ties the last payment stage to that certificate and sets the progress claim deadlines the payment legislation actually uses.
Subcontractor agreement template that flows the head contract downA subcontract exists to pass the head contract's obligations down one level and move the money back up on time. This one names the scope by drawing, sets the progress claim dates against the security of payment rules, holds retention and states the insurances, so the trade knows exactly when it is paid and for what.Questions people ask
What is the difference between site access and site possession?
Possession usually means the contractor controls the site to the exclusion of others and is responsible for its security. Access means the right to enter and work, often alongside the owner or other contractors. Many contracts now give access rather than possession, and the clause should say which applies, because risk and insurance tend to follow control.
What happens if the owner gives access late?
Most contracts treat late access as a qualifying cause of delay, giving the contractor an extension of time and often its reasonable costs. Without such a clause the contractor may argue the owner breached an implied obligation to give access in reasonable time, and the owner may be unable to recover delay damages for the late completion that follows.
Can the owner restrict working hours after signing?
Only as the contract allows. If hours are stated and priced, a later restriction imposed by the owner is usually treated as a variation, with time and cost. Restrictions imposed by a council or another authority are dealt with according to the contract, which is why the clause should say who carries the risk of new conditions on hours.
Who is responsible for site security during construction?
Usually the party in control of the site, which is often the contractor from the access date until practical completion. On construction projects covered by the model work health and safety laws, the principal contractor must also secure the workplace. The contract should state when responsibility returns to the owner, typically at completion or on earlier occupation.
Must visitors and consultants complete a site induction?
Where the contract or the site rules require it, yes, and on most construction sites everyone entering must at least sign in and receive a site specific briefing. Owners sometimes forget their own consultants and staff. A clause that applies induction and sign in to every person entering, including the owner's representatives, avoids friction at the gate.
Does the contractor keep access during the defects liability period?
Only to fix defects, and only on the terms the contract sets. After practical completion the owner controls the site, so the clause should say how the contractor asks for access, what notice is needed, which hours apply, and whether work in occupied areas has to happen after hours to avoid disturbing the people using the building.
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Written and checked by the OneCraft team. Last checked .