Contractual rights and obligations

Construction contracts are complex, and can run to hundreds of pages.

The main contract between the project owner and the contractor will normally contain all the rights and obligations of the parties in relation to the whole project.

As explained in the previous pages, there will be differences in the contract rights and obligations according to:

• the pricing structure agreed
• the primary obligations agreed
• the type of General Conditions adopted
• the Special Conditions
• other contract documents.

If the contractor appoints sub-contractors for parts of the project works, the contractor will normally ensure that the sub-contracts mirror the parts of the main contract which are relevant to the sub-contract works.

The following pages examine key rights and obligations which are frequently contained in the main contract, and which are often the focus of corrupt activity.

The terminology can change according to the different General Conditions being used.