What Are ‘Special Conditions’ in a Building Contract?

Special conditions in a building contract are usually those additional conditions that a builder needs to include to cover circumstances that are not covered by the ‘standard’ conditions of contract.

These ‘special conditions’ will need to be referenced in the building contract for them to be ‘legal’ and most industry contracts have a place for any ‘special conditions’ to be added into the contract. It is important that any ‘special conditions’ are referenced correctly to have any effect. Simply including them in among other statements in documents can be misleading or not referenced correctly. You should seek the advice of the association whose contract you are using, such as HIA.

How would I know what to include as ‘special conditions’ of contract? A schedule or list of 'Special Conditions of Contract' allows you to ensure that all the unusual situations that might occur during a contract are covered by a response or an exclusion or inclusion depending on the condition. For example, a Height Certificate. Unless this provision is specifically noted in the contract documents as being included, this certificate would not be included. Leaving it 'silent' means there can be a grey area and a client/s can make assumptions. This leads to arguments and additional work by staff to explain why it is not included.

Or what about Tree Removal. If there are trees/shrubs existing on the site, assumptions can be made by the client about who will remove them before construction starts, if they are to be removed. Having a ‘special condition’ about this eliminates any confusion over who is responsible and what should be occurring about trees and shrubs on a site. Having a list of 'Special Conditions of Contract' makes it clear about what is included and not included, and all of these items are usually difficult to show on plans and other documentation without risking repetition and duplication of time and effort.

The 3C Mentor Builders’ Business Resource website has a set of ‘Special Conditions of Contract’ that can be used as the basis for developing your own conditions. These 'special conditions' (over 60 that cover all different scenarios) have been created and developed over many years of experience and ending up in discussions with client/s about assumptions made.

Check it out in the Resource Centre.

The whole purpose of The 3C Mentor is to help create really great businesses in the residential building industry and delivered by our unique ‘Three Pillars to Your Success’ – Business Coaching, Business Consulting and Business Resources.