A family in Uttam Nagar agrees a rate per square foot with a contractor for a three-storey house, on a handshake. By the second slab the rate has risen because “steel went up”, the tiles are not the ones they chose, and the contractor wants the next payment before the brickwork is finished. A retired officer in Dwarka pays eighty per cent of the price for a renovation that stops at sixty per cent of the work. Nearly every construction dispute comes back to what was not written down: what exactly was to be built, with what, by when, and for how much. This page sets out what a good agreement says, and why.
Building a house is, for most families, the largest single contract they will ever sign, and it is usually signed with the least care. The contractor is often found through a relative or a neighbour, the price is agreed in conversation, and the paper, if there is any, is a one-page quotation. That works as long as nothing changes. In construction, something always changes.
A written agreement does three jobs. It defines what is being bought: a house of a particular design, built with particular materials, to a particular standard. It allocates risk: who bears the cost if steel prices rise, if the soil turns out to be poor, if the municipal corporation stops the work, or if the monsoon floods the foundation. And it sets out a process for the things that will go wrong: how changes are ordered and priced, how delays are measured, how defects are fixed, and how the relationship ends if it must.
The law underneath is the Indian Contract Act, which governs the agreement as it would any other contract, supplemented by the building laws of the local authority, labour and safety laws, tax laws and, for disputes, the Arbitration and Conciliation Act or the Consumer Protection Act. None of those tell you what the contractor has promised; only the agreement does.
This page is for an owner who has a plot, or an existing house, and is hiring a contractor to build, extend or renovate on it. It is not about buying a flat from a developer, which is a sale regulated under the real estate law; our builder buyer agreement guide covers that. Nor is it about hiring an individual worker or consultant on a monthly basis, which our contractor agreement service handles.
The owner’s side of the bargain matters too. The contractor needs the site available, drawings on time, decisions made promptly and payments made when due. A good agreement records those obligations as well, and an owner who does not meet them will find his claims for delay weakened.
The pricing model shapes everything else in the agreement, and each suits a different owner.
| Model | How the price works | Suits | Main risk for the owner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lump sum | One fixed price for a defined scope | Complete drawings and specifications | Every gap in the scope becomes an “extra” |
| Item rate | Rate for each item in a bill of quantities, paid on measured work | Owners with an architect or engineer | Quantities can grow; needs careful measurement |
| Per square foot, with material | A rate multiplied by built-up area | Standard houses, clear specifications | What the rate includes, and how area is measured |
| Labour-only | Contractor supplies labour; owner buys materials | Owners who can manage purchase and storage | Wastage, theft, and more responsibility for the site |
| Cost plus | Actual cost plus a fee or percentage | Uncertain scope, trusted contractor | Little incentive to control cost |
In Delhi house construction, the per square foot rate with material is the most common, and the most misunderstood. A quoted rate may cover only the structure and basic finishing, or it may include flooring, fittings, electrical and plumbing to a particular standard. It almost never includes everything, and the list of what is excluded — boundary walls, water tanks, lifts, modular kitchens, wardrobes, false ceilings, solar panels, elevation cladding — is where the final cost grows. A per square foot contract must therefore come with a detailed specification schedule and a clear list of exclusions.
Labour-only contracts, sometimes called “theka” for labour, look cheaper because the owner buys materials at cost. They transfer the risk of material wastage, quality and pilferage to the owner, and they require someone to be on site to receive and check deliveries.
Whatever the model, the agreement should state the price, what it includes, what it excludes, and whether GST and labour cess are included or extra.
A good agreement with the wrong contractor is still a bad project. The agreement can allocate risk, but it cannot give a contractor skills, workers or money he does not have. A few checks before signing are worth more than any clause.
None of this needs a lawyer. It needs a weekend and the patience to ask. The agreement then records what the contractor promised when he was still competing for the job.
Most construction disputes are baked in before the first brick is laid, because the contract is signed before the project is defined. Four things should exist first.
Architectural drawings. Floor plans, sections and elevations prepared by an architect, showing room sizes, openings, levels and finishes. A contractor cannot price, and an owner cannot enforce, a promise to build “a house as discussed”.
Structural drawings. Foundation, column, beam and slab details, with reinforcement, prepared by a structural engineer on the basis of the soil conditions and the number of floors planned. If a floor may be added later, the structure must be designed for it now. Contractors who offer to “manage” without structural drawings are offering to guess.
Building permission. In Delhi, building permission for most private plots is sought online from the municipal corporation or the relevant authority, on drawings submitted by a registered architect, under the applicable building bye-laws. Some small residential plots benefit from simplified approval processes. Work should not begin before permission is granted, and the agreement should make the start date depend on it.
A soil investigation for new foundations on unfamiliar ground, and a structural assessment of any existing building that is to be extended upward. Adding floors to an old house without checking whether its foundation and columns can carry them is among the most dangerous decisions an owner can make.
Owners should also have their own title in order — a lender financing construction will check it, and so will the authority granting permission. Our property title verification guide explains what that involves. Where construction is financed by a loan, the lender’s stage-wise disbursement should be matched to the contractor’s payment schedule; our home loan documentation service can help align them.
The scope clause says what the contractor will do, and, just as important, what he will not. It is the clause the parties will read most often during a dispute.
A good scope clause refers to the drawings by number and date, and lists the work in stages or trades:
Then list the exclusions expressly: items the owner will buy or contract separately, such as the lift, modular kitchen, wardrobes, air conditioning, solar systems, electricity and water connection charges, and approval fees. An item that is neither included nor excluded is the classic source of a quarrel.
Temporary works belong in the scope too: scaffolding, shuttering, site fencing, temporary electricity and water, storage for materials and shelter for workers. So does the contractor’s obligation to keep the site clean, remove debris lawfully, and leave the house clean at handover.
“Good quality material” means nothing in a contract. Specifications should be stated by grade, standard and, where it matters, approved brand, in a schedule attached to the agreement. Typical entries include:
| Item | What to specify |
|---|---|
| Cement | Type and grade, approved brands, freshness of stock |
| Reinforcement steel | Grade as per structural drawings, approved manufacturers, test certificates |
| Concrete | Grade for each element as per structural drawings; site-mixed or ready-mix |
| Bricks or blocks | Type, class and size |
| Waterproofing | System, product and guarantee period |
| Flooring and tiles | Material, size, and a price allowance per square foot if not yet chosen |
| Electrical | Wire brands and gauges, switches, distribution boards, number of points per room |
| Plumbing | Pipe material and brand, sanitary ware and fittings, or allowances |
| Doors and windows | Frame and shutter material, hardware, glass |
| Paint | Type and brand for interior, exterior and metal |
Where the owner has not yet chosen finishes, the usual device is an allowance: the contract price includes, for example, a stated amount per square foot for floor tiles. If the owner chooses dearer tiles, he pays the difference; if cheaper, he gets a credit. The agreement should say whether the allowance is for material alone or includes laying and wastage.
The agreement should also say that the owner or his engineer may inspect materials on arrival, require test certificates or tests, and reject material that does not meet the specification, with the contractor removing it at his own cost. For reinforcement steel and cement, the manufacturer’s test certificates and invoices are easy to ask for and are useful long after construction.
Substitutions should need the owner’s written approval, even where the contractor says the alternative is “equivalent”.
Where the price depends on area or quantities, the method of measurement is part of the price.
For per square foot contracts, the agreement must define the area. Is it the covered area of each floor, measured to the outside face of external walls? Does it include balconies, staircases and mumty, and at what percentage? Are the stilt parking and the roof terrace counted? Is the basement charged at the same rate? Two contractors quoting the same rate can arrive at very different totals because they measure differently. A table in the agreement, listing each area and the percentage of the rate applied to it, avoids that argument.
For item rate contracts, quantities are measured as the work proceeds and recorded in a measurement book, signed by both sides or by the owner’s engineer. The method of measurement for each item — cubic metres of concrete, kilograms of steel, square metres of plaster, running metres of skirting — should follow a recognised standard or be written into the bill of quantities. Deductions for openings in masonry and plaster are a common disagreement and should be settled in advance.
For lump sum contracts, measurement matters only for variations, but it still matters: the agreement should say how added or omitted work will be measured and valued.
The final bill should be based on joint measurement at completion. An owner who pays the final bill without checking measurement has usually paid for area that does not exist.
The payment schedule is the owner’s main lever. Paid ahead of the work, the contractor has less reason to finish; paid behind it, he may not be able to.
Payments should be tied to completed stages, not calendar dates. A typical schedule for a new house might include a modest mobilisation advance on signing; then payments on completion of excavation and foundation, plinth, each floor’s slab, brickwork, internal plaster, external plaster, flooring, electrical and plumbing, and finishing; and a final payment on handover. The percentage for each stage should roughly match the value of the work in it, and the agreement should say who certifies that a stage is complete.
For item rate contracts, running bills are raised periodically on measured work, checked, and paid within a stated number of days.
Retention. From each payment, a percentage — commonly five to ten per cent — is held back as security for completion and defects. Part is often released at completion and the rest at the end of the defects liability period. A contractor may offer a bank guarantee instead; for a house, retention in cash is simpler.
Advance. Any mobilisation advance should be modest, recovered in instalments from the early bills, and, for larger amounts, secured.
Payment method. Payments should be made by bank transfer, against invoices or receipts, never in cash. Cash payments cannot be proved, create tax problems for both sides, and are exactly what an owner will need to prove in a dispute.
The owner’s own obligation should be stated too: payment within a set number of days of a certified stage, with the contractor entitled to slow or suspend work after notice if the owner does not pay.
Get a stage-wise payment schedule drafted
Steel, cement and labour prices move, sometimes sharply, during a construction period of a year or more. Every contract either deals with that expressly or leaves it to a quarrel.
There are three approaches. A firm price contract puts the whole risk on the contractor, who will price that risk into his rate. An escalation clause allows the price to be adjusted if the cost of specified materials moves beyond a stated band, measured against a published index or agreed base prices, with the base prices and the quantities affected set out in the agreement. A material allowance approach has the owner buy the volatile materials, such as steel and cement, directly, or pay their actual cost against invoices, with the contractor’s rate covering everything else.
What an owner should resist is an open-ended clause allowing the contractor to “revise the rate if material prices increase”. It gives no base, no band and no method, and in practice it means the rate is whatever the contractor says it is at the next slab.
Escalation should also run both ways: if prices fall beyond the band, the price comes down. And escalation should not apply to work that is delayed by the contractor’s own fault; he should not profit from a price rise during a delay he caused.
For small projects of a few months, a firm price is usually the most practical. For a multi-floor house over a year or more, a narrow escalation clause on steel and cement, with base prices written in, is fairer to both sides and far easier to administer than an argument.
A construction agreement without dates is a promise to build eventually. The agreement should state the start date, or how it is fixed, and the completion date, and ideally intermediate milestones for major stages.
Delay by the contractor. The usual remedy is a pre-agreed sum for each week of delay beyond the completion date, capped at a percentage of the price. Such a clause saves the owner from having to prove his exact loss — rent paid elsewhere, interest on a loan — but under section 74 of the Contract Act a court will allow only reasonable compensation up to the stated sum. Our SLA guide explains how courts treat such clauses. The amount should be realistic; a figure so high that it looks like a penalty is harder to recover.
Extensions of time. The contractor should get more time, without penalty, for delays caused by the owner — late drawings, late decisions, late payments, changes — and for events outside either party’s control, such as government orders, extreme weather, or disruption of supply. The agreement should require the contractor to notify the owner promptly, in writing, of any event he says entitles him to more time; a claim raised for the first time at the end of the project should not count.
Time is not always of the essence. Under the Contract Act, whether a missed date entitles the other party to terminate depends on whether time was of the essence. In construction contracts containing extension and delay compensation clauses, courts have often held that it was not. An owner who wants the right to terminate for delay should provide for it expressly, with a notice period.
A simple site diary recording the date of each stage, the weather, and any stoppage makes delay claims far easier to decide.
Delhi has a problem few contracts elsewhere need to address. Under the Graded Response Action Plan administered by the Commission for Air Quality Management for the National Capital Region, restrictions on construction and demolition activity are imposed as air quality worsens, typically in the winter months. At the higher stages, most construction and demolition work can be stopped altogether, subject to exceptions that change from year to year. Stoppages can last days or weeks.
A well drafted Delhi construction agreement deals with this expressly:
Other stoppages deserve the same treatment: a stop-work notice from the municipal authority, an order of a court in a neighbour’s complaint, a police intervention over noise or working hours, or a strike affecting materials. Where the stoppage is caused by the owner — typically by building beyond the sanctioned plan — the owner bears the consequences; where it is caused by the contractor’s breach of rules, he does.
Planning helps. Foundation and structural work are best scheduled outside the months when restrictions are most likely, and the agreement’s programme should allow for them.
Every owner changes his mind during construction. A window moves, a bathroom is added, a better tile is chosen, a floor is extended into the setback. Changes are not the problem; unrecorded changes are.
The agreement should say that no variation will be paid for unless it is ordered in writing by the owner, or his architect, before the work is done. A simple variation order form — a description of the change, its effect on price and on time, signed by both — is enough. A WhatsApp message can serve if it is clear and acknowledged, but a signed form is better.
The agreement should also say how variations are priced: at the contract rates where the same items already exist, at rates derived from them for similar items, and at agreed rates, or actual cost plus a stated percentage, for new items. Omitted work should be deducted at the same rates.
Two protections for the owner. First, the contractor must not carry out work outside the sanctioned plan, even if the owner asks; an agreement that says so protects both of them from pressure on site. Second, a variation that the contractor proposes to fix his own error, or to suit his convenience, is not an extra.
At the end of the project, the variation orders, added up, should explain every rupee by which the final account differs from the contract price. If they do not, the difference is a claim to be proved, not a bill to be paid.
An owner who visits the site on Sundays is not supervising it. Most quality problems — honeycombed concrete, wrongly placed reinforcement, inadequate curing, poor waterproofing — are invisible once covered, and the only time to catch them is before the next layer goes on.
The agreement should therefore:
The contractor should have a named site supervisor with enough experience for the job, and the agreement can require the owner’s approval before he is replaced.
Photographs, dated and taken at each stage, especially of reinforcement before concreting and waterproofing before it is covered, are the cheapest insurance an owner can buy. They settle disputes about what was done, and years later they tell the next engineer where the pipes and bars are.
Building permission is granted to the owner, for his plot, on the basis of drawings submitted by his architect. The contractor does not hold it and cannot be made responsible for obtaining it, but he can be made responsible for building in accordance with it.
The agreement should allocate the approvals clearly:
Deviations are where Delhi owners get into trouble. Extra floors, covered setbacks, projections beyond the plot line and increased height may be common in the neighbourhood, but they are not lawful because they are common. A building that deviates from its sanction can be subject to stop-work orders, sealing and demolition under the municipal law, and will struggle to obtain a completion certificate, which in turn affects electricity and water connections, sale and loans. The owner bears these consequences, not the contractor, whatever the contractor promised on site.
Construction near protected monuments, airports, heritage zones or certain other areas needs further clearances. Where a no objection certificate is needed from any authority, our construction NOC service helps prepare the application.
The completion certificate and the as-built drawings should be treated as deliverables of the project, not as afterthoughts. A house without them is harder to sell, mortgage or even insure.
A construction site is dangerous, and the people most at risk are the workers. The agreement should put the responsibility where it belongs and make sure it is backed by insurance.
Workers. The contractor engages and pays his workers and is responsible for wages, hours and compliance with labour laws, including minimum wages and, where the thresholds are met, the law on building and other construction workers. He should not employ children, and should provide drinking water, toilets and first aid on site.
Safety. The contractor provides safe scaffolding, edge protection on slabs and stairs, safety equipment such as helmets and harnesses for work at height, safe electrical connections, and barricading. He should appoint a person responsible for safety on site.
Accidents. If a worker is injured or killed, compensation may be payable under the Employees’ Compensation Act and claims may be made against both contractor and owner. The agreement should require the contractor to insure his workers, bear any compensation, and indemnify the owner. An owner engaging labour directly on a labour-only basis is closer to being their employer and should take specific advice.
Labour cess. The Building and Other Construction Workers’ Welfare Cess Act levies a cess on the cost of construction, at a rate notified by the Government that has been one per cent, to fund workers’ welfare boards. Construction of an individual’s own residential house below a cost threshold, which has been ten lakh rupees, is outside the scheme. Local bodies commonly collect the cess when granting building permission. The agreement should state who bears it.
Insurance. For larger projects, a contractor’s all risks policy covers damage to the works during construction and third-party liability, including damage to neighbours’ property. For smaller projects, the owner should at least ask what insurance the contractor carries and require cover for workers and third-party liability. If the owner has a home loan, the lender may also require property insurance once the structure is up.
In a dense city, a construction site affects everyone around it, and the neighbours’ complaints can stop work as effectively as any authority.
Party walls and adjoining structures. Excavating for a foundation next to an old building can undermine it. The contractor should take precautions such as shoring and underpinning where needed, and the owner and contractor should photograph the neighbours’ walls before work starts, preferably with the neighbours present. Damage caused by the works should be the contractor’s responsibility, backed by insurance, unless it results from the owner’s design.
Debris. Construction and demolition waste must be disposed of lawfully, under the construction and demolition waste rules and the local body’s arrangements. Dumping on the road or in a vacant plot invites fines and complaints. The agreement should make disposal the contractor’s job and his cost.
Working hours and noise. Local rules and police practice restrict noisy work at night. The contractor should keep to permitted hours and avoid blocking lanes with materials and vehicles.
Utilities. A temporary electricity connection for construction is taken in the owner’s name from the distribution company; the agreement should say who pays for consumption. Water for construction must come from a lawful source; use of groundwater is regulated. At the end, permanent electricity, water and sewer connections are applied for by the owner, and usually need the completion certificate or other proof of lawful construction.
Common walls and encroachment. The contractor should build strictly within the plot. A wall a few inches over the boundary can lead to years of litigation. Where the boundary is uncertain, have it demarcated before work starts.
A written notice to neighbours before work begins, with the contractor’s contact number and expected duration, avoids a surprising number of disputes.
GST. A contract under which the contractor supplies both materials and labour for construction of immovable property is generally treated as a works contract, a supply of services, and a contractor who is registered charges GST at the applicable rate on his invoices. Certain pure labour contracts for construction of a single residential unit that is not part of a residential complex have been exempt. Rates, exemptions and the conditions attached to them are revised from time to time. The agreement should state whether the price includes GST, and the owner should ask for proper tax invoices from a registered contractor.
Small contractors below the registration threshold do not charge GST. Owners sometimes prefer unregistered contractors for this reason, but should understand that such a contractor’s bills may be of limited use later, for example as proof of the cost of construction for capital gains purposes when the house is sold.
Tax deduction at source. Tax deduction on payments to contractors applies to specified payers, and individuals paying for construction of their own residence have generally been outside it. Businesses and some individuals carrying on business may have to deduct tax on contractor payments. The Income-tax Act was re-enacted with effect from April 2026, so section references have changed; owners with business income should confirm the position with a chartered accountant.
Keeping records. Invoices, payment records and the final account are worth keeping for as long as the owner holds the property. They support the cost of construction for tax on a future sale, insurance claims, loan applications and any dispute with the contractor.
We do not give tax advice; these points are for discussion with your accountant.
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Completion is not the end of the contractor’s obligation. Many defects — seepage, cracks, drainage problems, loose tiles, electrical faults — appear only after the first monsoon or a few months of use.
Handover. On completion, the owner and contractor walk through the house together and list the outstanding items, often called a snag list. The contractor completes them within a stated time. The owner takes possession, and the date is recorded, because the defects liability period runs from it.
Defects liability period. For a stated period after handover — commonly six to twelve months — the contractor must return and fix any defect caused by his materials or workmanship, at his cost, within a reasonable time of notice. If he does not, the owner may have the defect fixed by others and deduct the cost from the retention. The period is a contractual promise; it does not cut down the owner’s rights for serious latent defects under the general law, which run for the limitation period.
Specialist warranties. Waterproofing, termite treatment, pumps, lifts and some fittings come with manufacturer or applicator warranties, often for several years. The agreement should require the contractor to obtain them in the owner’s name and hand them over.
Handover documents. The owner should receive as-built drawings showing where pipes, conduits and reinforcement actually are; warranties and manuals; test certificates for steel and concrete; the final measurement and account; and a no-dues declaration by the contractor confirming that he has paid his workers and suppliers.
Release of retention. The retention, or its balance, is paid at the end of the defects liability period once all notified defects are fixed. Owners who release retention at handover lose their leverage.
Sometimes the relationship fails: the contractor abandons the site, runs out of money, does persistently poor work, or the owner cannot continue to pay. The agreement should provide a way out that does not leave the site frozen.
Termination by the owner is usually allowed for abandonment, persistent failure to progress, serious defects not corrected after notice, insolvency, and breach of law endangering the site. The procedure should be a written notice specifying the default and a period to cure it, then a notice of termination. Termination without following the procedure risks making the owner the party in breach.
Termination by the contractor is usually allowed for non-payment after notice, and for prolonged suspension of the work by the owner.
What happens next. The agreement should provide for a joint measurement of work done, or, if the contractor will not attend, a measurement by the owner’s engineer after notice. The contractor is paid for work properly done, less advances and the extra cost the owner incurs in completing through another contractor. Materials on site paid for by the owner stay; the contractor removes his own equipment.
Before any termination, the owner should record the site: photographs and video, a measurement, and ideally a short report by an independent engineer. Our property valuation service can arrange an assessment of the work done. That record becomes the evidence in any later claim, and it lets the new contractor start without inheriting a quarrel.
Termination for convenience — the owner simply deciding to stop — should also be addressed, with the contractor paid for work done and reasonable demobilisation costs.
Most construction disputes are about money: an unpaid bill, a disputed extra, a delay deduction, a defect. The agreement should give them a path.
Negotiation and an engineer’s decision. A first step of a meeting between the owner and contractor, followed if needed by the decision of the owner’s architect or an agreed independent engineer on technical questions, resolves many disputes quickly.
Mediation is inexpensive and confidential and often works where both sides want to finish the house.
Arbitration is common in construction contracts. The clause should name the seat and the procedure, and provide a fair method of appointing the arbitrator. Courts have held that a party with an interest in the dispute cannot unilaterally appoint a sole arbitrator, so a clause that lets the owner, or the contractor, pick the arbitrator alone is likely to be ineffective.
Consumer commission. The Consumer Protection Act, 2019 includes housing construction within the services it covers, and an owner who hired a contractor for his own house may be able to complain of deficient service to the consumer commission. Our consumer complaint service prepares the complaint.
Civil court remains available for claims outside arbitration.
A formal demand is usually the first step; our legal notice and recovery notice services draft them. Arbitration, consumer and court proceedings are for your advocate, engaged and paid by you directly; we do not quote, collect or share that fee. Our find an advocate page explains how to choose one.
A construction agreement does not transfer any interest in the land, so it does not usually need registration. It must be stamped under the stamp law of the State where it is signed, generally as an agreement, before or at the time of signing. In Delhi, stamping is done through e-stamp certificates; our e-stamp paper guide explains how to buy and verify one, and our e-stamp paper service arranges it.
Both parties sign every page, and the drawings, specification schedule, bill of quantities or rate schedule, and payment schedule are attached as annexures, each signed. Two witnesses should attest. Each party keeps a complete signed set.
Where the owner lives abroad or elsewhere, a relative can sign on his behalf under a specific power of attorney that covers entering into the construction contract, making payments and dealing with the authorities; our power of attorney drafting service prepares one.
Where the contractor is a firm or company, the person signing should have authority, evidenced by a partnership authority or a board resolution, and the agreement should record the contractor’s registered address, GST number if registered, and PAN.
An agreement signed after work has begun is still worth having. It can record what has been done and paid so far, and set the terms for the rest.
Renovation. Renovation contracts are smaller but more disputed, because the scope is harder to define: nobody knows what is behind the plaster until it is opened. The agreement should include a procedure for “discovered conditions” — rotten pipes, weak beams, seepage — with the contractor bound to report them before proceeding and the extra work priced as a variation. Protection of the parts of the house still being lived in, and working hours, matter more than in a new build.
Interiors. Interior contracts for modular kitchens, wardrobes, false ceilings and furniture are usually priced per item or per square foot of surface, with drawings and material samples. The main risks are substitution of board and hardware grades, and large advances. Specify the board type, laminate, hardware brand and edge finish, and tie payment to delivery and installation.
Extra floors. Adding a floor to an existing house combines every risk on this page: structural capacity, permission, neighbours and the family living below. A structural engineer’s assessment of the existing building, and permission for the additional floor, should come before any agreement. Where the extra floor is being built by a developer in exchange for a share of the property, that is a collaboration arrangement, not a construction contract, and needs a different set of documents dealing with ownership and sale.
For all three, the principles do not change: define the scope, specify the materials, tie payment to work, record changes, and hold something back until the work proves itself.
A family in Uttam Nagar plans to rebuild their old single-storey house as stilt parking plus three floors. They obtain architectural and structural drawings and building permission first. Three contractors quote per square foot rates that look similar.
Comparing the quotations line by line shows the difference: one counts the stilt at full rate, another at half; one includes flooring with an allowance, another only “basic flooring”; one excludes the overhead tank and boundary wall. The family chooses the second contractor and signs an agreement with an area measurement table, a specification schedule with approved brands and tile allowances, a payment schedule tied to the stilt slab and each floor’s slab, brickwork, plaster and finishing, ten per cent retention, and a narrow steel and cement escalation clause with base prices written in.
In the first winter, construction is stopped for two weeks under the pollution restrictions. The agreement treats that as an extension of time, with no claim for idle labour. When the family decides to add a bathroom on the top floor, a signed variation order records the price and an extra week. A retired engineer from the family’s circle checks reinforcement before each slab.
The house is handed over two months later than planned, all of it explained by the stoppage and the variations. After the first monsoon, seepage appears in one bathroom; the contractor fixes it within the defects liability period, and the retention is then released.
A retired officer in Dwarka hires a contractor to renovate his flat — new flooring, bathrooms, kitchen and electrical rewiring — on a one-page quotation. He pays advances as the contractor asks, reaching eighty per cent of the price, when the work stops at roughly sixty per cent. The contractor stops answering calls.
He photographs and video-records every room, has an engineer measure the work done and estimate the cost of completion, and sends a written notice to the contractor asking him to resume within seven days. When nothing happens, he sends a legal notice terminating the arrangement and claiming the excess paid and the extra cost of completion.
The contractor replies that the owner “changed the design” and that the extra work used up the money. Without a written scope or variation orders, the owner’s position rests on his photographs, his payment records and the engineer’s report, which is enough for his advocate to pursue a claim, but far from the certainty a written agreement would have given.
For the remaining work, he signs a proper agreement with a new contractor: scope, specifications, payments against completed rooms, and retention.
Construction contractor agreement drafting is ₹2,999 and usually takes 2 – 5 days. We draft and review agreements; we are not architects, engineers or contractors, and we do not certify quality, quantities or structural safety.
| What is included | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| A discussion of your project, pricing model and concerns | An agreement that fits your job, not a template |
| Scope, exclusions and area measurement table | The commonest arguments settled in advance |
| Specification schedule framework, allowances and substitution rules | Materials you can check and enforce |
| Stage payments, retention, escalation and variation clauses | Money tied to work, and changes priced before they are made |
| Delay, stoppage, safety, insurance, defects and termination terms | A way through problems without abandoning the site |
| One round of revisions, and a stamping and signing checklist | A valid document with its annexures attached |
Stamp duty is at actuals, and we tell you the total before we start. Architectural, structural and approval work is for your architect and engineer. Arbitration, consumer and court matters are for your advocate, whose fee is engaged and paid by you directly; we do not quote, collect or share it.
Construction disputes rarely turn on law; they turn on what nobody wrote down. Drawings and permission first. Then a scope with exclusions, materials by grade and brand, payments tied to completed stages with retention held back, changes ordered in writing, and a plan for delays — including Delhi’s winter stoppages. Tell us about your plot and your contractor’s quotation. We will draft an agreement that both of you can work to.
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