Contract and start · High risk
What are you actually signing?
A quote is not a contract. Agree terms that cover price, programme, variations and disputes.
- When it lands
- Before any money changes hands.
- What it costs to get wrong
- Without a contract, every disagreement is your word against theirs, and the cost of resolving it dwarfs the cost of writing one.
A quote is an offer to do work. A contract says what happens when things change, run late, or go wrong. Most domestic projects that end in dispute never had one.
Use a written contract at any size
For domestic work, a simple standard form such as a JCT Home Owner contract is usually enough, and there are equivalents scaled to larger refurbishments. The point is not formality; it is that the difficult questions get answered while everyone is still friendly.
A £110,000 refurbishment ran on a quote and a handshake. The builder took a second job and attendance dropped to two days a week. With no completion date and no mechanism for delay, the homeowner had no remedy other than to complain — and the job took eleven months.
Attach the scope
The contract must refer to specific documents: the drawings by number and revision, the specification, the allowances, the accepted quote. Without that, the words the parties agreed to are whatever each of them remembers.
Fill in the blanks people skip
Start date and completion date. What happens if the date is missed. The payment schedule. How variations are priced and instructed. Retention and the defects period. Insurance obligations on both sides. How a dispute gets resolved before it reaches court.
Every blank left empty is an argument you have agreed to have later.
Why this one matters
A simple written contract is not distrust — it is the document you both point at when something unexpected happens, which it will. Good builders prefer it too.
Do this week
- Choose the contract form appropriate to the value of the work.
- List the exact documents that will be attached to it.
- Confirm who holds contract works insurance during the build.
The realistic choices
JCT Home Owner contract
Short, plain-English, designed for exactly this. Usually the right answer.
Builder's own terms
Read every clause on payment, delay and variations before signing.
Bespoke contract
For high-value projects, with a professional reviewing it.
What good looks like
- Named parties, a fixed scope by reference to drawings, and a signed date
- A written process for how variations get priced and agreed
Questions worth asking
- What happens to price and programme if something unforeseen is found?
- How do we end this agreement if it is not working?
From real projects
No contract, no completion date
A £110,000 refurbishment ran on a quote and a handshake. The builder took a second job and attendance dropped to two days a week. With no completion date and no delay damages, the homeowner had no remedy and the project ran eleven months instead of five.
The lesson: Without a written completion date, 'late' does not legally exist.
Putting it into practice
What this decision should leave behind
The steps to work through, the paperwork worth keeping and the questions to send your builder today.
- · Use a written contract, whatever the size
- · Attach the scope
- · Fill in the blanks that people skip
- · Template: Contract cover letter and checklist
- · Paperwork: Signed contract with all appendices
- · Paperwork: Contract works insurance in the correct name
Next decision
How and when do you pay?