Standard forms of contract and amendments
Standard form building contracts play an important role in many construction and engineering projects. There are many advantages in using standard form contracts, such as the suite of JCT Building Contracts, with a wide array of standard forms available to suit the particular types of parties, works and procurement routes involved in projects. Tried and tested wording aims to reduce both negotiation time and cost and subsequent disputes, and most practitioners are familiar with them.
It is often necessary to include specifics about the project in the contract. Amending a standard form gives opportunity to do this while still benefitting from the generally accepted ‘standard’ wording of the rest of the contract.
Take care to amend only what is completely necessary. It could be that similar projects have encountered the same issues so it is advisable to check whether an amendment already exists that meets a particular requirement.
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