IN THE KNOW —
How do NZCB Building Contracts Compare to Others? As a NZ Certified Builder, you have access to state-of-the-art building contracts that have been written with “fairness” as the guiding principle. They require the builder and the homeowner to act reasonably and not try to gain an unfair advantage over the other through underhand tactics. For example, the builder is obliged to start the project promptly and to work diligently and conscientiously until it is finished. If it is a fixed price + contract then the builder must honour that commitment even if it involves making a loss, subject to his right to charge extra for variations, cost fluctuations and provisional sum adjustments. If it is a cost reimbursement contract then the builder must use reasonable care in calculating his estimate of what the project will end up costing, and he must keep the owner informed of how the project is tracking in comparison to the budget. And there are one and a half pages of warranties and guarantees that the builder gives to the homeowner, spelled out in the contract.
Those obligations are backed up by five separate laws through which homeowners can hold the builder accountable if he doesn’t achieve the standards expected of him, and many different ways in which they can enforce their rights and remedies. To top it off, they don’t actually need any of those laws or those enforcement methods in the event of a disagreement with their builder, if they can simply withhold payment of the latest invoice, which is usually a satisfactory solution as far as the homeowner is concerned. To counter that, NZ Certified Builders contracts contain a number of safeguards to ensure that the builder will get paid for the value he has added to the owner’s property, subject to any disputes that need to be resolved. For a start, the homeowner promises to pay invoices when due, to not hold the builder up, and to cooperate with the builder when the owner is procuring products or services direct. In addition to that, the builder is entitled to a mortgage over the property itself to secure payment of anything that
Small Works & Alterations
Cost & Margin Building Contract
Fixed Price+
0800 237 843 | nzcb.nz
Building Contract
0800 237 843 | nzcb.nz
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Building Contract
0800 237 843 | nzcb.nz
