A construction contract is read properly twice: when it is signed and when something has gone wrong. Most of the people on site are only there for the second reading. By then the outcome rarely turns on what the parties agreed, but on what one of them managed to notify the other about while the work was going on – and whether it still exists in writing.
Three roles that live with the contract
The site manager
Is the first to know that something has deviated. That is where the deadline for a notice starts running, whatever day the office hears about it.
The supervisor
Keeps the site diary and records obstructions. That entry is often the only evidence left by the time the question is asked a year later.
Whoever approves the invoice
Needs to see whether a piece of work was ordered as a variation or was already inside the contract sum, before the invoice goes any further.
What we cover
- The writing requirement: which messages have to be in writing to count, and what becomes of the ones that never were
- Notices and deadlines – when the clock starts, and what a missing notice costs even the party that is right on the merits
- Obstructions and extensions of time: which events extend the contract period and which only move the cost
- The site diary, deviation reports and minutes as evidence, and what holds up when it is tested
- Payment: payment schedules, due dates and the right to withhold
- Liability after handover – what stays with the contractor, and for how long
The site diary decides more often than the contract does
Once a dispute is under way the contract text stays put while memories move. What settles it is therefore seldom the clause but the entry: who was on site, what they were told and on which day. Keeping the diary daily costs a few minutes. Reconstructing four months after the fact costs a great deal more, and is never as convincing.
Common questions about construction law
Questions we get from project managers and supervisors choosing a course.
- Do I need a legal background?
- No. The training starts from situations on site rather than from statute, and explains the terms where they come up. It is written for the roles in the projects, not for lawyers.
- Can it be taken remotely?
- Yes. Construction law is an online course taken at your own pace, which is usually what works when the participants sit in different places or on different projects.
- Does it suit clients as well as contractors?
- Yes, the rules look the same from both sides. It is often more useful to have heard the other party's obligations explained than your own.
- We have nothing in writing on the smaller jobs. Does that matter?
- Yes, though perhaps not in the way you expect. With no standard form agreed, general contract law applies instead, and it allocates responsibility and risk differently than the standard forms do. What applies when nothing has been agreed is a part of the course in its own right.
Are several of you on the same project?
Then it is worth starting from the same reading of the contract before the next deviation turns up.
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