ᐅ Completion Date in a General Contractor Agreement – Wording Guide

ypg schrieb:

You have to understand that the builder cannot contractually commit to a date that is beyond their control. What you are asking for—that particular clause—would be void in any contract, as the builder cannot foresee the future or guarantee something they simply cannot promise.

What I meant was more or less something like this:

“The completion date is agreed to be no later than October 31, 2020, provided that the land is ready for construction by October 1, 2019. Otherwise, the completion date will be 10 months after the building permit / planning permission is granted, with final completion after 12 months.”

I just want to express that the project must be finished in 2020 if the land is indeed ready for building by October 2019. Both our local building authority and the construction manager from the development company have confirmed this land readiness to me.

Our general contractor should simply not delay if they could actually start building already. That’s really what matters to us. We are well aware that they have no influence over the completion of the site development work.

I suppose I should have been clearer in my wording.

goalkeeper schrieb:

What I meant was something along these lines:

“Occupancy readiness is agreed to be no later than October 31, 2020, but only if the plot is buildable by October 1, 2019. Otherwise, occupancy readiness applies 10 months after the building permit/planning permission is granted, with completion after 12 months.”

I just want to express that it must be finished in 2020 if, in fact, the plot is buildable by October 2019. This buildability has been confirmed to me both by our building authority and the site manager from the infrastructure company.

Our general contractor should not delay if construction could already start. That’s what matters to us. We are aware that he has no influence on the completion of the infrastructure work.

I probably should have formulated that more clearly.

I understand what you mean, but the general contractor only hires subs as well. If they can’t or won’t work, nothing happens. It’s never the general contractor who delays, but their subcontractors, weather conditions, technical construction issues, or matters involving the client or neighbors.

Therefore, there will be no guaranteed construction period until XX.XX.XXXX.

A guaranteed completion time to the exact day will not work. The question is also what should happen if the contractor does not meet this deadline. Have you considered that? Because in fact, the claims for damages are limited even then. So simply stating "We will be finished by xx.xx.2020" is, to begin with, quite unremarkable.

Zaba12 schrieb:

I know what you mean, but the general contractor (GC) only hires subcontractors. If they can’t or don’t want to do the work, nothing will happen. It’s never the GC who causes delays, but rather the subcontractors, the weather, construction issues, or problems with the client or neighbors.

That’s why there will never be a guaranteed construction completion date by XX.XX.XXXX.

However, your argument doesn’t hold—under the new construction contract law, a duration or guaranteed completion date must be specified.

In our GC contract, it states that the building will be ready for occupancy 10 months after construction starts and fully completed after 12 months. Construction start is defined as one month after the building permit/planning permission is granted. Therefore, neither the GC nor his subcontractors can afford to waste time during construction.

The only way to delay is by postponing the application for the building permit/planning permission. But once that is obtained, they have to push ahead.

Well, if the general contractor (GC) already included these 10 or 12 months in the contract, it might be possible to adjust that accordingly. However, if at all, they would probably agree to something like starting construction no later than x months after all prerequisites for the start of construction are met, with completion by, for example, October 31, 2020.

The problem remains that the GC can only schedule you once everything is in place. Therefore, I would first suggest having a discussion to see whether they are willing to include something like that in the contract. The issue is what happens if they schedule you to start construction on October 31, 2019, but site development, surveying, or similar tasks are not yet completed. For that reason, they will likely only schedule you and confirm it in the contract once everything is finalized.

Personally, I would focus more on the term "ready for occupancy." Because what does it imply in reverse? A handover, that is, moving in, means the silent acceptance of the house. Completely without an official report or a list of defects.