Five things to get answered before you sign a construction contract

The contract that lands in an owner's inbox the week before mobilization is usually forty pages, and the owner usually reads the price on page one and the signature block on page forty. Everything that will matter in month six lives in between. We sign contracts from the other side of the table, and these are the questions we would want answered in writing before we put our name on one.

Who is actually going to be on my site

Ask for the name of the person who will run the job day to day, and ask whether that person also priced it. On many projects the estimator hands off to a project manager who hands off to a superintendent, and the owner ends up explaining the job to someone who was not in the room when the promises were made. On our jobs the person who priced it is the principal who runs it, on site, with a cell number you can call. Ask any builder the same question and listen to how long the answer takes. Then ask which trades are the builder's own employees and which are subcontracted, and ask for the license and the insurance certificate rather than a promise that they exist.

What the number does and does not include

A proposal price is only as good as the list underneath it. Ask what is base scope, what is an allowance that will be trued up later, and what is excluded entirely. Two bids that look close on the first page can be tens of thousands apart once the allowances for tile, lighting, signage or FF&E are compared. Ask especially about the closeout items: furniture receiving and installation, final cleaning, punch list labor, as-built drawings. Those are the things that decide whether you open on the date, and they are the easiest to leave out of a number that needs to look low.

How changes and delays will be priced

There will be change orders; the question is how they are handled. The contract should state the method for pricing a change, the markup that applies, who approves it and when, and it should require the price and the schedule effect in writing before the work proceeds. Then read the delay clause. Some delays are yours (a late decision, a late finish selection). Some are the builder's. Some belong to weather, the utility company or the permit office. Know which category earns an extension and which does not, because you do not want to be negotiating that definition during an actual delay with a lease clock running.

How and when you pay

Draws tied to work in place, verified by someone who has walked the site, tell you what you are paying for. Draws tied to the calendar do not. Ask what documentation comes with each request, how retainage is held and released, and what the final payment is conditioned on. A clear closeout condition (certificate of occupancy, punch complete, lien waivers, manuals delivered) protects both sides, and it gives the project an actual end instead of a fade-out.

If it was said out loud, get it on the page

Every one of these answers should appear in the document, not in a conversation you remember and the builder does not. If something you were told is missing, ask for it to be added before signing. A builder who bristles at that request has told you something. A builder who has nothing to hide will put it in writing without friction, and will not rush you through the review to hit a mobilization date. Take the time. The date on the contract is the one that matters, and it is worth a few more days to be sure the document behind it is sound.

We answer all of these on the first call, and the owner who answers them is the one who will be on your site until the last punch item is signed off. Send over the plans and the draft agreement if you already have one, and we will walk through both with you.