Guides · Australian Construction Law

Australian Building Contract & Construction Law Guides

Plain-English guides for owners, builders and architects across Australia, from choosing and amending your building contract to choosing the right construction lawyer. We cover ABIC special conditions, monthly progress payments, cost-plus compliance and force majeure, plus Client Architect Agreements for architects in practice.

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Which building contract is right for you? HIA, ABIC and Master Builders compared

A balanced comparison of the main Australian building contracts, and how owners, builders and architects work out which form fits the job.

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Choosing a construction lawyer

What “best construction lawyer” really means for your project, and how to look past the directory rankings to the fit that actually matters, for a home build, a premium Sydney project, a contract to review, or a builder chasing payment.

Choosing a construction lawyer · Residential · Australia

Best Residential Construction Lawyer in Australia

How to work out who the "best" residential construction lawyer actually is for your home build, and why the answer depends on the project, not a directory badge.

Choosing a construction lawyer · High-end homes · Sydney

Best Construction Lawyer in Sydney for High-End Homes

On a prestige, architect-designed Sydney build, "best" is not the biggest firm on a Top 10 list; it is the lawyer who understands both the law and how a premium home is actually built.

Choosing a construction lawyer · Contracts · Australia

Best Construction Contract Lawyer in Australia

For drafting, reviewing and amending a building contract, "best" means front-end expertise, and a lawyer who has administered contracts, not only argued about them.

Choosing a construction lawyer · Commercial · Australia

Best Commercial Construction Lawyer in Australia

For commercial projects, "best" splits by scale: mega-projects belong with the big national firms, while a great deal of mid-market commercial work is better served by a senior specialist working directly with you.

ABIC contract Special Conditions

What the off-the-shelf ABIC contract leaves you exposed to, and how the right Special Conditions fix it, for builders, architects and owner-builders.

ABIC SW 2018 H · Australian residential building

Monthly Progress Payments vs Stage Payments

Why residential builders and architects across Australia move the ABIC SW 2018 H contract off its stage payment schedule and onto monthly progress claims.

ABIC SW 2018 H · Australian residential building

Force Majeure in Building Contracts

The events no one can control (disasters, pandemics, war, government action), and why the standard ABIC form leaves builders and owners to argue about them after the fact.

ABIC SW 2018 H · Australian residential building

Building Material Cost Increases and Supply Chain Risk

When global supply shocks send material prices up mid-project, who wears the cost, and how do you share genuine increases without opening the door to open-ended price rises?

ABIC CP-2014 C · Australian residential building

Cost-Plus Residential Building Contracts

Why a well-understood commercial cost-plus contract cannot simply be used, unamended, on an Australian home, and how targeted Special Conditions make it compliant.

Building contracts, payments and disputes

The questions owners, builders and architects actually ask: how stage payments work and what the law limits, how construction adjudication runs, which ABIC form fits the job, and when a builder needs their own lawyer.

Building contracts · Payments

Stage Payments for Building Work

What each stage payment on a residential build is actually paying for, what the law limits, and what to satisfy yourself about before you release the money.

Payments · Adjudication

Adjudication in Construction

The statutory fast track for construction payment disputes: how it runs, how quickly, what an adjudicator can decide, and why the answer is binding but not final.

ABIC contracts · Choosing a form

ABIC Simple Works vs Major Works

The two most-used ABIC forms are built on the same foundations but carry very different amounts of contractual machinery. Choosing the wrong one costs you either protection or time.

For builders · Independent legal advice

Legal Advice for Master Builders Members

What your membership already gives you, where it stops, and the situations in which a builder is better served by their own independent construction lawyer.

Client Architect Agreements

For architects setting up or growing a practice: the agreement that governs your own engagements, explained through the questions architects ask.

Client Architect Agreements

What Is a Client Architect Agreement?

The contract between an architect and their client, what it covers, and why every architect in Australia needs one in writing before starting work.

Client Architect Agreements

Setting Up Your Client Agreement for a New Practice

The terms a sole practitioner most needs to get right, and the traps that catch new practices in their first year.

Client Architect Agreements

Should You Use the Standard Agreement Unchanged?

The Institute CAA2024 and the registration board short forms are sound starting points. Here is when they are enough, and when a change is worth making.

Client Architect Agreements

Client Architect Agreement Mistakes That Cost Architects

The same handful of errors turn up again and again in architects’ client agreements. Each is avoidable with the right terms.

Client Architect Agreements

Architectural Services Agreement

The agreement that records what an architect will do, what it costs, and who carries which risk, and why the wording of the scope clause matters more than anything else in it.

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