Plain-English articles on the mechanics of capital works and building contracts, written by Robert Hunter from the superintendent's chair. No jargon, no clause numbers quoted from memory, and nothing you cannot check against your own contract.
Every state has legislation that lets a builder get paid quickly and lets an owner lose the argument by doing nothing. The business days an owner has in New South Wales and Queensland, what a payment schedule must say, and why silence costs the full claim.
Read the article →Practical completion is the day the builder stops paying for delay and the owner starts paying for everything else. What the certificate does, why minor defects is where the argument lives, and the nine documents to insist on before it issues.
Read the article →Most buildings are maintained by reaction. How to build a planned maintenance calendar from nothing in ninety days, in the order that matters: the register first, then the statutory layer, then contractors, evidence and the first report.
Read the article →Every AS 4000 contract names a superintendent. Most boards signing one could not say what the role does, who it works for, or why it matters which side of the table it comes from. The plain answer, and five questions to ask before signing.
Read the article →An extension of time decides whether the club opens when the board was told it would, and whether liquidated damages apply if it does not. The six steps a superintendent works through, and the four things the board should see each month.
Read the article →Most club building projects do not go over budget on the contract sum. They go over on variations nobody added up until the final account. Is it really a variation, was it directed before it was built, and what is it worth.
Read the article →A 30-minute call with Robert Hunter about the project or the contract in front of you. No obligation. Robert replies within one business day.