What Should You Write in Your Contract with Builder?

Sign a Written Agreement

You must always sign a written contract with your builder no matter how much you know your builder, how much you love your builder and no matter how much good things you've heard about your builder.

No matter how good looking or pleasant he looks or sounds. No matter how great his references are.

No matter if you have already worked with that builder before in another job.

Why?

1. Everything, including price and scope, you verbally agree with the builder will be denied or misunderstood so you will end up with less/bad work done with higher charge if you don't write it.
2. There should be a good reference to the source of truth on what is agreed both for you and the builder - people do make mistakes

So never ever rely on the morale or good-will, etc; those don't make sense in practice and there are always disputes and arguments.

Check who the builder is

1. Name
2. Company name
3. Website/Email/Telephone
4. Qualifications
5. Legal rights to work (Visa/Passport)

Sign Multiple Agreements

It's highly likely that the scope of work may change during the work, added or removed.

Get those in writing separately with the same format.

Get Builder to Sign Every Page

Builder must sign every page of your contract agreement, never rely on the last page only.

The reason is they will deny reading the spec but if they have to sign it it's highly likely that they don't have a solid ground to deny.

Include Price Details

Price must clearly be stated. You must clearly specify who pays what.

• Materials - what materials
• VAT included or excluded
• Installation

So if builder says my quote is £1000 to do that work, always ask does that include VAT, installation, materials, fitting, cleaning, etc and get that in writing.

Include Pictures

Take pictures of the areas of the work and include them in your spec and agreement.

Don't worry about the agreement becomes very long.

Pictures must be there as a point of reference

Don't Rush to Start

Plan your written contract for a month and detail as much as possible before starting the work

Do not rush to start the project

Take your time to detail as much as you can

Never just verbally agree that builder does an extra work, write them down in details and get hi to sign it.

Remember everything you agree verbally will be denied and disputed including scope of work and its price.

Wait for all pages to be signed.

Wait for all paperworks to go through

Damages:
Make it clear that any damages must be paid by builder.

Cleaning:

Always include cleaning in your template. builder must fully clean during the work and after the work.

Detail Scope of Work

1. What needs to be done - detail as much as possible

Always pay VAT if builder is VAT registered.

Never accept not to pay VAT if builder is VAT registered. Don't think about saving that 20%.

Not only it's illegal but also you lose any chance you have in court and legal grounds.

Always pay via Bank Transfer

Never pay cash. Pay via Bank Transfer as point of reference.

Payment Plans:

Payments should not be based on time but based on a work delivered and stage completed.

Set realistic weekly goals and only if those goals met, then pay.

Always keep the builder at least one week behind the payment.

Leave 25% to the end

Always keep 25% of payments at the end of the project because they may leave you in the middle of the job and it will cost you more to arrange with another builder.

Deposit

Do not pay any deposit, if they need materials - tell them that you buy the materials.

There is always a high chance that they demand for deposit, take the money and walk away.

Always be prepared that the builder walks away

All builders have a habit of walking away from the jobs they've agreed to, that must be your assumption.

Why?

1. They may rethink the scope of work and think it's not worth much to them
2. They may fall sick/ill or have other emergencies
3. They may be tempted to accept another job higher paid somewhere else

Therefore, define stage based goals for him that at any time he leaves the job, you can still manage it with another builder.

Don't let them to damage everything.

Get them to focus on one goal and finish it to delivery then to next.

Threats

If you receive any physical threats, it must be recorded in writing and by email and also sent to police.

Bully/Intimidation/Demands of Payment

Builders have their own worries:

1. They may think you don't pay them
2. They may think you add extra works
3. They may think what they agreed to is not worth to them, they made mistakes to agree the scope and price

Threat of Walking Away and Demands of Early Payments

Some builders would love to make you dependent on them that you pay them more than agreed and earlier than agreed. They would love to see you begging them to come back and finish their works and you pay them more. They would love to see your pains and cries.

Unfortunately, this is the truth - there are good builders out there but you can't afford to assume that so always hope for the best and prepare for the worst.

Don't give them that chance.

Always be prepared for them to walk away.

And let them walk away if they are not happy.

Deadline:

Set a realistic deadline plus 10% contingency for the spec.

Set Penalty

Bad behavior must be stated and priced penalty set for them

1. Not turning up to work
2. Delaying the project unreasonably
3. Leaving to another job

Termination:

If builder doesn't turn up to work fore than 7 days

If builder doesn't have have good progress in the reasonable opinion of you.

If builder damages the property.

If builder causes harassment.

Changes to the Spec:

You may want to give some of part of the work to someone else if performance or quality not satisfactory.

That should be allowed and reserved within the contract.

Morning or Evening Daily Reports (5 minutes):

Builder must give you daily reports on the progress made and his plan tomorrow or next week.

• What builder has done yesterday?
• What builder will do today?
• Any obstacles or blockers need resolving?

Basically, you'd need a good Contract Agreement Template