Contract Administration

What is Contract Administration?

Contract Administration is essentially where, a construction professional is employed by the Client to administer a contract between the Client and a Contractor (usually a JCT Contract).  The purpose of Contract Administration is making sure that the works are satisfactorily carried out and both parties adhere to their responsibilities.

What is a Contractor Administrator?

A Contractor Administrator (or CA) is a construction professional that is usually employed by the Client (or the party that intends to undertake works) to ensure that the works are carried out to an acceptable standard within an agreed timescale, while reducing the risk of forward funding.  The CA role will usually commence at the start of the design project, where they will be responsible for putting works out to tender, managing the tender process, and producing a tender analysis upon receipt of the Contractor’s priced submissions.

Once a Contractor has been appointed, the CA will arrange and hold regular meetings, update the Client as necessary and assess and certify payment applications from the Contractor, which reduces the risk of forward funding.  A key part of this process is that a retention sum is held by the Client throughout the works.

Once the works are complete, the CA will certify ‘Practical Completion’, which reduces the retention sum held by the Client and activates the rectification period. During this period, which is usually either 3, 6 or 12 months, the Contractor is responsible for making good all defects relating to the works.  Once the defects liability period has expired, the CA will usually inspect the works and produce a snagging list, which will detail any defects that they have observed.  Once the works detailed on the snagging list have been satisfactorily completed, the CA will issue a ‘Certificate of Making Good Defects’, which released the retention and concludes the matter.

What are the benefits of using a Contractor Administrator?

The benefit of this process to the Client is that they can have peace of mind that a construction professional is involved and ensuring that the works are completed to an acceptable level, and the risk of forward funding the Contractor is reduced.

Schedule of Dilapidations

What is a Schedule of Dilapidations?

A Schedule of Dilapidations is, essentially, a list of breaches of a Lease, which is usually defects and items of repair that is served on a Tenant either during or at the end of a Lease.  Additionally, the Schedule will often detail reinstatement items, such as Tenant’s alterations to the property that require either removal or reinstatement.  The Schedule will usually detail what, in the Surveyor’s opinion, costs for each item would be, in the instance that the Tenant does not fulfill their repair and reinstatement obligations under the Lease.

A Schedule of Dilapidations, once served on the Tenant, will often be negotiated either directly between the Landlord and Tenant, or, between Surveyors acting on behalf of the respective parties.

Ingoing Schedule of Condition

What is an Ingoing Schedule of Condition?

Commercial Tenants are often subject to full repairing and insuring Leases, or FRI’s, which will place several repairing and reinstatement obligations on them at the end of the term (see our page on Schedule of Dilapidations).  In order to limit the claim brought to them at the end of the term by the Landlord, many Tenants opt to have an Ingoing Schedule of Condition prior to taking on the property, which can be appended to the Lease, and referred to at the end of the term.

The Schedule of Condition (or SoC) will usually contain a short written description of each element of the property, often room by room, with a large amount of accompanying photographs which can be held on file by the respective parties and their representatives as evidence of the condition of the property at commencement of the term.

Schedule of Works

What is a Schedule of Works?

A Schedule of Works is effectively a document that sets out, in detail, each element of a construction project, which can be accurately costed by a Contractor.  The benefit of having a Schedule of Works for a construction project is that it provides full details of the works and materials required to carry out the works, which will form part of the contract documents (see our Contractor Administrator section).

Schedule of Works can be produced for all types of projects, from simple repairs to full refurbishment and reconfiguration of properties.

Landlord’s Approval

What is Landlord’s Approval?

When a Tenant wishes to make alterations to a property, often the Lease will require them to obtain Landlord’s consent for the works that they propose.  In order for the Landlord (and often their legal advisers that will subsequently prepare a Licence to Alter) to better understand the proposed works, they will often instruct a Chartered Surveyor to review the Tenant’s proposals and visit the property to assess the plans and the affect that the works are likely to have on the property, its occupants, and, where relevant, adjoining properties.  Once they have reviewed the proposals and inspected the property, the Chartered Surveyor will prepare a report that provides an overview of the proposed works, any issues or concerns that they have, and recommendations for conditions that can be incorporated into the Licence to Alter.