Administering Your Building Contract

What we do:

Administer the building contract in accordance with its terms by:

• provide you with regular updates on the progress of the build,
• assess and determine Variations and obtain your written approval prior to proceeding with them,
• issue amended construction documents to your builder as required,
• review shop drawings and submissions by your Builder,
• provide your Builder with supplementary details and clarifications of the building contract,
• instruct your Builder about incomplete work and rectification of defects,
• co-ordinate construction services by Specialist Consultants,
• co-ordinate inspections by certifiers and surveyors,
• assess your builder’s progress claims and issue progress certificates,
• adjust prime cost and provisional sums and other monetary sums,
• ensure your Builder provides you and the Building Surveyor with a Standard of Work certificate.
• Arrange for your Building Surveyor to complete the final inspection, to complete and forward the Certificate of Final Inspection and the Builder’s Standard of Work certificate together with any other relevant documentation to the permit authority as part of the application for the Certificate of Completion.

If the permit authority / local Council is satisfied it will issue the Certificate of Completion for your building project.

Contract Administration does not include supervision of the construction work.

The Contract Administrator’s main focus is on the desired constructions results as specified in the construction documents within your contract.

The Contract Administrator’s role is not to supervise the construction work because that involves issuing instructions about construction methods, techniques, and sequences that are required for producing the desired results, and to check that the work is adequately completed, which is your Builder’s role.

Your Protection:

As your Contract Administrator we will be in a position to protect you from being charged for work that is not yet completed, or not in accordance with the requirements of your Building Contract

Progress Payments:

Progress Payments are payments made to your Builder by you throughout the project for work completed, provided it is in accordance with the requirements of the Construction Documents.

Your Obligations:

The usual process and your obligations for progress payments are as follows:

• your Builder presents a progress claim to us,
• we assess the claim, determine the amount your Builder is entitled to under the contract then issue a progress certificate to your builder,
• your builder presents the progress certificate and a tax invoice to you for payment,
• you pay your Builder the amount required within the required time limits, otherwise there may be delays and/or you may be charged interest on the outstanding amounts.

Defects Liability Period:

Practical Completion is immediately followed by the defects liability period, of 6 months in Tasmania for residential construction, during which:

• all minor defects and omissions are agreed upon with your Builder,
• a defects document listing all identified and agreed issues is signed by your Builder,
• all identified and agreed issues are to be rectified as soon as possible by your Builder, or no later than 6 months from signing the defects document.

What we do:

• keep you updated on progress of rectification work
• co-ordinate the procedure of the rectification of defective work with your Builder and any consultants as required.
• assess and determine final completion and issue the final certificate.

For New Home Designs up to 200square meters: Our fee for the Contract Administration stage is in the range of $6000 – $9000.

• The range in fees depend on design complexities and your choice of design approach, including Supportive Design, Healthful Design, Solar Passive Design, Passivhaus Design, and/or building in Bushfire prone areas.
• Additional fees apply to Variations made during construction.
• A larger fee applies to larger projects.

Fees Schedule For Contract Administration:

• 20% to be paid prior to commencing the preparation of the contract with your chosen Builder.
• 75% to be paid within 10 working days upon practical completion.
• 5% to be paid within 10 working days from issuing the final completion certificate.

Travel Fees:

We try to arrange our meetings to be online to cut down on unnecessary travel and to stay Covid safe.

During Contract Administration, we will need to visit your site on a number of occasions, as will be specified in your Building Contract. Travel fees apply if your building site is outside a 30km radius from Launceston CBD, Tasmania (as measured using Google maps).

• If your site is in Tasmania and is outside the 40km radius from Launceston CBD, the travel fee is $120 for each site visit.
• If visiting your site requires interstate travel, then the travel fee will be considered on a case by case basis.