Homeowner or main contractor: the paperwork that decides whether I get paid

Written for general builders, groundworkers, carpenters and joiners, roofers, plasterers, bricklayers and kitchen and bathroom fitters in the UK, from one-van firms to small main contractors.

The short version

1. Ask first: homeowner or business?A homeowner job runs on consumer law. A job for a business runs on the Construction Act. The paperwork differs.
2. Give cancellation paperwork before a home signing.Hand over the cancellation information and model form first. Start inside the cancellation period only if they ask in writing.
3. Strike or cap risky subcontract clauses.Strike pay-when-paid, where you are paid only once they are. Cap liquidated damages, indemnities and retention before signing for a main contractor.

The question that changes everything: is the client a homeowner having work done on the home they live in, or a business? The Construction Act does not apply to a homeowner's work on their own home (HGCRA 1996 s.106). Consumer law applies instead. So the paperwork that protects you is different on each side.

Homeowner jobs

Without the paperwork, a client who cancels may owe nothing for the work done and you have committed an offence. With it, the right ends after 14 days.

• Agree every variation in writing, with the price, before you do the work. If you do not, the argument becomes what a reasonable price would have been.
• No statute caps a domestic deposit in England. Take what covers the materials you are ordering for that job, not a large sum at signing.
• What you said or wrote that the client relied on binds you, and you cannot exclude your duty of reasonable care and skill (Consumer Rights Act 2015 ss.49, 50 and 57).

Subcontracts and work for main contractors

Business-to-business construction contracts sit on top of the Construction Act's payment rules, whichever form is used: the JCT 2024 Edition is the current suite (the 2016 forms remain on older jobs), and NEC4 is used on public and infrastructure work. Before you sign, look for these:

• Pay-when-paid or pay-when-certified: ineffective, so strike it.
• Set-off or contra charges without notice: any deduction still needs a valid pay less notice by the contract deadline.
• Retention released only when the whole project completes: ask for release on completion of your own package, capped at the JCT default of 3%, and diarise the dates. As of Sep 2026.
• Liquidated damages at the main contract rate, or uncapped: ask for a cap and a rate in proportion to your package.
• Back-to-back terms from a main contract you have not seen: ask for the relevant parts before signing.
• Notices as conditions precedent with short time limits: diarise and notify in writing every time, or lose the claim.
• Fitness for purpose on design: strike it or limit it to reasonable skill and care, because professional indemnity insurance does not cover it.
• Uncapped indemnities and consequential loss: limit to direct loss and cap at the subcontract sum or your insurance limit.
• Insurance levels above what you hold: price the extra premium or negotiate the level.
• Collateral warranties, deeds and third-party rights: they extend your exposure to 12 years and to new parties, so price and cap them.

Above the cap you may recover only a reasonable sum for the work, not the price you agreed. A letter of intent should cap the spend, set an end date and say which terms apply.

After the job: how long you stay liable

Keep the job file on every home (drawings, specifications, photos, certificates and product data) for at least 15 years, keep run-off cover after you retire or close the company, and notify your insurer before you reply to any defects letter. Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own time limits.

Asked in Greymill

Ask it about your own business

Paste this into Greymill with your own figures, and Contracts & Disputes works it through for your business.

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