Your Construction Contract: Essential Points by Roger Greenwald, AIA, Architecture Serving Wethersfield, West Hartford, and the State of Connecticut
You and your Architect have arrived at a wonderful design for your project. It’s been an exhilarating process. That was the fun part! Now comes the more challenging part: getting the project built. Just as a house must rest on a solid foundation, the construction project must be founded on a solid contract which protects you, the Owner. For the first thirty years of my practice, I was a national award-winning architect-builder. Clients hiring Roger Greenwald, AIA were hiring both an architect and a builder. While I now leave the general contracting to the younger men, I know the business of general contracting. If setting out on the adventure of a construction project seems to you like getting into a raft to shoot through the rapids of a wild river, you should think of your architect as your river guide. He should know every rock in that river and how to steer your raft down that river to the calm and quiet moment when you relax with a cup of coffee in your newly constructed home. This guidance shapes your contract with the contractor. So let’s consider some key points to consider in your contract.
Point #1: Don’t sign the contractor’s contract!
Your contractor’s contract was written by a clever attorney who was paid to protect the contractor and to give him power and control at your expense. The AIA, American Institute of Architects, has for many years provided owners and contractors with a set of carefully written standard contracts. Use that resource! Simply tell the contractor that you will be negotiating a standard AIA contract with the winning bidder. If he refuses, he’s simply not your guy. Your lawyer will work with Roger Greenwald, AIA to draft a contract which protects you.
Point #2: Reference the plans and specs in the contract!
I do a lot of expert witness work for attorneys who represent victimized homeowners in failed construction projects. In 85% of these tragic cases, the owners signed the contractors contract, and that contract did NOT bind the contractor specifically to plans and specifications with enforceable language. A proper set of architectural plans will tell the contract clearly how the project is to be constructed. Ensure that the contract includes a clear reference to the architect’s plans and specifications, and requires that the job be built per plans and specifications. Seems obvious? in contract law, never assume! Always specify clearly and directly. I’ll be reviewing your contract as an architect (I’m not a lawyer). I’ll be sure that the plans and specifications are clearly the foundation of the contract.
Point #3: The contract must contain a performance standard, such as “to be constructed in a good and workmanlike manner and approved as such by the Architect”.
This essential point is what protects you from a contractor who sold you with a sweet song about quality and then sent careless, unsupervised workmen who are careless regarding quality.
Point #4: Give yourself the right to stop the work!
This essential right enables you to call in your architect if you are unhappy with workmanship. Hopefully, you never need to invoke that right. But just having that right goes a long way to incentivizing the contractor to maintain proper standards on the job.
Whether you’re working with your architect in West Hartford,CT on a small addition, or engaged with an architect in Gulford. CT on a large beach house , the elements of a solid construction contract are universal. Your architect, working with your lawyer, will give you the maximum protection in a well crafted AIA contract document.
In our next blog, we’ll discuss a critical element of the construction contract, the draw schedule: what you pay, when you pay it, and your rights to withhold it if necessary.
Stay tuned,
Regards,
Roger
Roger Greenwald, AIA Architect
Serving Wethersfield, West Hartford, and all of Connecticut