Contract Clauses to Watch Out For in Construction Contracts

4. The contract between the owner and the general contractor:

Almost all construction contracts have a clause to the effect of:

Not only are you held to the terms of the contract between you and the general contractor but you are also held to the terms of the contract between the owner and the general contractor.

This means that whatever the general contractor has agreed to with the owner, you are required to adhere to those agreements as if you had made those agreements yourself.

It is vitally important that you see read (and understand) the contract between the general contractor and the owner. Tell the general contractor that if he is going to keep that clause in your contract then you MUST see a copy of his contract with the owner. If the general contractor balks at this, then you might think twice about signing on the dotted line.

You don't know what you might be setting yourself up for if you don't read the owner's contract before you sign your contract.

5. Per plans and specs:

Watch out!, because if the plans and specs have changed since you submitted your bid then you might be contracting to do more work than you think. Always insist that the plans and specs pages, dates and revisions be included in your construction contracts.

If you can, also get listed the pages that apply to your scope of the work.

Always check this information to the set of plans and specs you looked at to make sure that everything matches. If it's all the same then you are okay. If any of the information is different, don't sign the contract.

Ask the general contractor for the most recent set of plans and specs so that you can determine whether or not the added/altered information has an impact on your price.

Construction Contracts Continued on Page 8