Construction Agreements
The Marriage Contract, William Hogarth; 1743
Construction Agreements describe the contractural agreements between the parties. These agreements are generally prepared on standardized forms which are modified to suit the requirements of a specific project. The agreements usually consist of an Agreement Form and a companion document called variously "General Conditions" or "Conditions of the Contract".
For purposes of our discussion, I will refer to these standardized agreements as Model Contracts (following the usage of the building codes which are referred to as "Model Codes" before they are adopted by a specific jurisdiction).
Many organizations publish Model Contracts . Some familiar examples include the AIA, EJCDC, AGC, DBIA and the relatively new ConsensusDocs. Most government and public agencies, and some private owners have their own, prepared by their legal counsel.
The Construction Agreement Form records relatively basic information about the contract: Names and addresses of the parties, description and location of the project, type of contract, method of compensation, signatures of the principals and dates of signing, etc.
The Conditions of the Contract then spell out in detail the legal obligations and responsibilities of the parties to one another and to the project. Some third party responsibilities are also delineated, in particular, those of the A/E. This latter fact is necessary to the proper functioning of the Construction Agreement and necessitates the careful coordination of the Owner-Contractor Agreement and the Owner-Architect Agreement.
Many, but not all, of the organizations publishing Model Contracts for Construction Agreements also publish coordinated Owner-Architect or Owner-Engineer Agreements. When preparing Construction Agreements, the A/E should take great care to review the proposed document with the terms of their own contract with the Owner.
Often, the two agreements are prepared by different attorneys, maybe years apart, and could have varying scopes of duties and responsibilities. It is very important that the expectations of the Contractor written into his Owner-Contractor Agreement should reflect the duties and responsibilities of the Architect/Engineer as described in their Owner-Architect Agreement. In the event of a dispute, any discrepancy could become a problem.
In today's illustration, the two gentlemen in rich clothing discuss their contract of marriage for their children with their solicitor, while the young people sit idly in the back, focused on their own concerns. Do not look away while others prepare your contracts, be involved and alert to the danger of uncoordinated documents.
There is more on this topic in CSI PRM 5.3.
Next Post: Design and Construction Participants.
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