Most construction disputes are not technical. They are about scope and payments, and both are settled — or lost — in the contract, months before anyone argues.
The contract must attach the line-item budget, the drawings and the specifications, each identified by date and version. "A house of approximately 200 m² to a high standard" is not a scope; it is an invitation to a disagreement. Everything the owner assumes is included and is not written down will be an extra, and it will be an extra at a moment when you have no leverage.
Payments should follow milestones that can be inspected — foundation complete, structure and slabs, services closed, finishes, handover — not calendar dates. Any advance should amortise proportionally across each payment rather than sitting outstanding until the end. Hold a retention until the punch list is cleared. For an owner abroad, this structure protects more than any amount of supervision does.
Every change, whether you asked for it or the site forced it, must be documented before it is executed, with its cost and its effect on the schedule. Without that mechanism a project advances on verbal agreements and produces a final invoice nobody recognises. With it, the final number is explainable line by line — which is the entire point.
| Item | Sound practice | Warning sign |
|---|---|---|
| Advance payment | Amortised across each payment | Large advance, never amortised |
| Payments | Tied to verified progress | Fixed calendar dates, no inspection |
| Changes | Priced and signed before execution | Verbal agreements on site |
| Completion | Date plus defined extensions | No completion date at all |
| Warranty | Written, scoped, time-limited | "Guaranteed" with no terms |
| Termination | Settlement method defined | Clause absent entirely |
Start date, completion date, and a defined list of what justifies an extension: extraordinary rain, owner-requested changes, authority delays outside the builder's control. Plus a delay penalty and its cap. A contract with no completion date is a contract that only protects one party, and it is not you.
A written warranty against hidden defects, with what it covers, for how long and how to report. Confirmation of the builder's civil liability and workers' cover, with current certificates. And termination clauses with how the settlement is calculated — for work executed and verified, materials on site, and any penalty. Nobody signs a contract expecting to use that clause, which is exactly why it gets left out.
Related pages: How to read a construction budget · Site supervision · Versión en español · Taking over a stalled project
196+ completed projects. Fixed-price contracts. Reply in 2 minutes.
Ask on WhatsAppHow long a build takes · Site supervision · Concierge construction service · Managing a build from abroad · Contractor stopped? Finishing a stalled build · Home inspection before buying · Connecting utilities