Building and Construction
Our firm provides clients with advice on building and construction contracts and disputes.
For contracts, we review and providing advice including on scope and risk allocation. It is a common misconception in the building industry that there are “standard form contracts” and many owners and developers execute contracts assuming that they are standard form contracts. However, there is no one standard form contract in the construction industry. Instead there are numerous forms of contracts in the building industry each with different risk allocations and each with a different bias to a particular type of party. Parties entering into building contracts need to carefully consider which is the best for them and best suited to the individual scenario and customise each contract to suit their respective needs.\
Due to the complexities involved in building and construction and the significant cost of construction which has increased significantly of late, we find that parties regularly fall into building disputes.
Our firm regularly acts in these types of disputes even when they escalate to Court or Tribunal proceedings. These include proceedings involving:
- claims for defective and incomplete work in breach of the statutory warranties contained in s. 18B of the Home Building Act 1989 (NSW);
- claims brought by Owners Corporations against builders and developers in respect of defective work in strata buildings;
- claims for breach of the duty of care imposed by s. 37 of the Design Building Practitioners Act 2020 (NSW) with respect to defects;
- adjudications under the Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act 1999 (NSW) which is an interim dispute resolution scheme introduced by the Government to attempt to address cash flow issues for subcontractors and builders.
If you require any assistance in building and construction matters, contact one of our lawyers at [email protected] or call 02 9221 1088 for expert legal advice.