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A proper contract protects everyone on the job.
The projects that go wrong usually go wrong on paperwork, not on people: a quote instead of a contract, payments with nothing to measure them against, changes agreed in passing and never written down. We put a proper building contract between you and the builder and act as Contract Administrator under it, fair to both sides. Good builders like working this way, because everyone knows where they stand. This page is what it means, in plain terms.
Where projects go wrong
It is rarely the people. It is usually the paperwork.
Four gaps, all avoidable.
Most builders want a clear job and to be paid promptly for good work. Most homeowners want to know what they are paying for. The trouble starts when nothing is written down that both sides can rely on, and there is no one independent in the middle when a question comes up.
A quote instead of a contract
A quote fixes a price for a scope, and not much else: not the dates, not how changes are valued, not what happens if something unexpected turns up. Both sides are exposed.
Payments with nothing to measure them against
Stage payments agreed in advance are a guess at how the work will go. If the job runs differently, one side ends up ahead of the other, and that is where arguments start.
No one in the middle
Without an independent person inspecting and certifying the work, every question is one side's word against the other's. An architect administering the contract answers to the contract, not to either party.
Changes agreed in passing
The extra agreed on site on a Tuesday is worth something, and it should be written down and valued then, not argued over on the final bill.
What we put in place
A contract, a certificate, and someone in the middle.
The mechanism, not the reassurance.
Under a JCT building contract, the standard form in England and Wales, the price, the programme, how payment is certified, how changes are valued and how defects are put right are all written down and binding on both sides. We act as Contract Administrator under it: the builder is paid promptly and in full for certified work, and you pay for work done.
The right contract for the size of job
JCT publishes forms for different scales, from a small extension to a whole-house rebuild. We choose the one that fits, fill in the particulars, and explain every clause that matters before anyone signs.
Paid on certificate, for work done
After each site inspection we certify the value of the work properly done, and the builder is paid against it. Retention is held as the contract sets out and released when the snags are made good. Both sides know what is due and when, and if a builder's business runs into trouble, as any business can, you have paid only for what has been built.
Changes in writing, valued before they happen
Every instruction goes through us and is recorded and valued, so the builder is paid for the extra and you know what it costs before it is built, not on the final bill.
Defects made good
Practical completion is certified, not assumed. Anything that settles, sticks or leaks in the months after is put right under the contract, and the last of the retention is released when it is.
Builders we know
We tender to builders we have worked with for years, on the same drawings and the same specification, so the prices compare like with like. The contract is not a sign of distrust: it is the paperwork that lets a good builder and a good client get on with the job. How tendering works →
One rule on site: instructions to the builder go through us. It keeps the price and the programme where the contract put them, and it means the builder is never asked to price the same change twice.
How it is priced
Quoted with the tender, agreed before we start on site.
Contract administration is priced once the scope and the builder's price are known: a fixed fee or a percentage of the build cost, set out in writing before the site stage begins, and staged like every other part of our work.
Get in touch
Tell us about the project.
Whether it is a first conversation or a scheme someone else has already started, we are happy to hear where you have got to.
Want the facts first? Start with the Property Insight Report. It comes with a free 30-minute call. If you then hire us as your architect for the project, the report fee comes off our fee.
- Emailinfo@dzpstudio.co.uk
- Phone07508 382 877
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- StudioLondon & Essex
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