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.
Choosing a construction lawyer
How to choose a construction lawyer, what “best” 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 an adviser · Australia-wide
How to Choose a Construction Lawyer
What to look for, the questions worth asking, and why a directory ranking is only one input. A practical checklist for owners, builders, architects and consultants.
Questions to ask a construction lawyerChoosing 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 residential construction lawyerChoosing 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 lawyer for a Sydney prestige homeChoosing 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 contract lawyerChoosing 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.
Choosing a commercial construction lawyerABIC 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.
Compare monthly and stage paymentsABIC 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.
What a force majeure clause coversABIC 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?
Who pays when material costs riseABIC CP-2014 C · Australian residential building
Cost-Plus Residential Building Contracts
Why a commercial cost-plus contract should be checked against the residential building legislation applying to an Australian home, and how targeted Special Conditions address identified requirements in NSW and WA.
Cost-plus contracts for home buildingBuilding 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.
What each stage payment pays forPayments · 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.
How construction adjudication worksABIC 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.
Which ABIC contract to useFor 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.
Independent legal advice for buildersBuilding contracts · By jurisdiction
Residential Building Contract Rules by State
Residential building work is regulated separately in every state and territory. Here is the Act that governs each one, what it bears on in the contract, and what to check before signing.
Find the Act for your stateBuilding contracts · Insolvency risk
What Happens If Your Builder Becomes Insolvent?
How an insolvency plays out is largely decided before it happens. What protects a project is what went into the contract at the start, and how far ahead of the work the money has run.
Builder insolvency and your contractClient 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 registered architects are generally required to use one in writing under the professional rules applying in their state or territory.
What a client architect agreement coversClient 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 agreements for a new practiceClient 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.
When the standard CAA2024 is enoughClient 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.
Avoid common client agreement mistakesClient 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.
What a services agreement should coverFor architects & lead consultants · Liability
Who Is Liable for a Subconsultant’s Defective Work?
How responsibility for defective consultant work actually flows: what your head agreement promises, what your subconsultant terms pass down, and where the gap between the two sits.
Subconsultant liability for defectsReady to look at the contracts?
Browse the licensed ABIC Special Conditions, or let the Contract Finder walk you to the option that fits your project and jurisdiction.