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COMPARE AND CHOOSE A
HOME BUILDING CONTRACT REVIEW

The Power of Home Building Contract Reviews for Homeowners

Protect your interests with a home building contract review

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When it comes to home building projects, it’s vital you protect your interests with a comprehensive domestic home building contract review. At Aitchison Reid, we help you avoid the pitfalls and unnecessary expenses that come with this kind of project – reviewing your domestic building contract to make sure it’s a true reflection of your needs.

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Whether your matter requires an HIA domestic building contract review, QBCC domestic building contract review or a Master Builders domestic building contract review, our Aitchison Reid suite of domestic home building contract reviews and assessments provides homeowners with contract review product options that are both affordable and vital to helping you protect your home.

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We developed our domestic home building contract reviews and assessments as a consequence of helping so many homeowners and home investors with their home building disputes (read more here).  

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All too often the warning signs were apparent at the pre-contract stage (read more here) and we want to help homeowners and home investors like you avoid the pitfalls and the expense of home building disputes and the resulting stressful impacts on your well-being.

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Do industry association building contracts protect homeowners' interests?

 

Simply put “no”, industry association domestic home building contracts may not protect your interests (read more here). HIA domestic home building contracts and Master Builders’ domestic home building contracts may not protect your interests as a homeowner or home investor. That’s why we recommend amendments to the standard terms of HIA domestic home building contracts (read more here) and Master Builders' domestic home building contracts so that the building contracts become even-sided; please note this feature is included in our Written Advice and Premium Review products.

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Why do we review a home building contract's specifications?

 

Specifications, like your plans, are building contract documents.  Over the years we have noticed that builders tend to use specifications and other builder-supplied documents as a place to discreetly place their special conditions, exclusions and variable amounts instead of in the main body of the domestic home building contract document. As a result we consider the review of your specifications is a vital part of your domestic home building contract review; please note this feature is included in our Premium Review product.

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What is included in a Premium Review Home Building Contract Review from Aitchison Reid Building and Construction Lawyers?

 

Our Premium Review home building contract review is for people who want to minimise their risks of home building as much as possible, including those risks lurking in the additional builder-supplied contract documents, such as the specifications, quotes and tender documents.

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Available in Queensland, for standard form domestic home building contracts from the Master Builders' Association, the Housing Industry Association, or the Queensland Building and Construction Commission.

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Booking lead time of 4 business days (AEST). Price $3,884 includes GST and transaction fees.

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Includes:

  • A comprehensive written report about your domestic home building contract;

  • A one hour phone call with a lawyer to discuss the report with you;

  • Recommended amendments for the general terms, schedules, special conditions and all other provided documents including specifications, quotes and tender documents;

  • Commentary on the general terms, schedules and special conditions and all other provided documents including specifications, quotes and tender documents;

  • QBCC search of your builder plus commentary; and

  • A general information sheet about the risks of domestic building.​

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What is included in a Written Advice Home Building Contract Review from Aitchison Reid Building and Construction Lawyers?

 

Our Written Advice home building contract review is for people who want to know what they are agreeing to in their home building contract and what amendments we recommend, in an easy to read and understand report.

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Available in Queensland, for standard form domestic home building contracts from the Master Builders' Association, the Housing Industry Association, or the Queensland Building and Construction Commission.

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Booking lead time of 3 business days (AEST). Price $2,467 includes GST and transaction fees.

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Includes:

  • A comprehensive written report about your home building contract;

  • A one hour phone call with a lawyer to discuss the report with you;

  • Recommended amendments for the general terms, schedules and up to 15 special conditions;

  • Commentary on the general terms, schedules and up to 15 special conditions;

  • QBCC search of your builder plus commentary; and

  • A general information sheet about the risks of domestic building.

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Please note:

  • The review does not include a review of any additional documents, such as specifications, quotes, etc. Some builders add a large number of special conditions.

  • To deal with a contract that has more than 15 special conditions:

    • You will be notified before the review is carried out if there are additional special conditions and an additional price will be given to you before the work is carried out.

    • If you agree to the additional special conditions being reviewed and the additional price, your credit/debit card will be debited for the additional price.

    • When counting the number of special conditions, the number of subclauses will also be counted.

    • For example, if there are 10 clauses with 3 subclauses each, there will be 30 special conditions, and you will need to pay extra for 15 of the special conditions to be reviewed.

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What is included in a Conversation With a Lawyer Home Building Contract Review from Aitchison Reid Building and Construction Lawyers?

 

Our Conversation With a Lawyer home building contract review is for people who want verbal advice on their home building contract, but do not want a full written advice.

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Available in QLD, for standard form domestic home building contracts from the Master Builders' Association, the Housing Industry Association, or the Queensland Building and Construction Commission.

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Booking lead time of 1.5 business days (AEST). Price $1,216 includes GST and transaction fees.

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Includes:

  • A one hour phone call with a lawyer to discuss your home building contract with you;

  • Review of your contract including schedules and special conditions;

  • QBCC licence search; and

  • Follow up email with:

    • A copy of the licence searches completed;

    • The risks identified in the schedules and special conditions to your contract; and

    • A general information sheet about the risks of domestic building.

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What if you want a home building contract review but you are not a resident owner?

 

If you are not a resident owner and you want to purchase a domestic home building contract review from Aitchison Reid Building and Construction Lawyers, some additional terms and conditions apply to our home building contract review products.

 

In accordance with clause 1.4(b), (c) and (d) of our Costs Agreement:

  • Our fixed fees for our contract reviews are based on you being a resident owner;

  • You must notify us if you are not a resident owner;

  • If you are not a resident owner:

    • Additional commercial construction laws apply to your build, in particular the Building Industry Fairness (Security of Payment) Act 2017 (BIF Act), which affects most invoices sent in the construction industry;

    • We strongly recommend that you obtain our BIF Information sheet and advice for the cost of $869 including GST;

    • If you do not obtain our BIF Information sheet and advice, you assume the risk of not being informed of the additional commercial construction law risks that apply to your build.

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If you are not a resident owner, we will arrange with you a separate charge to your payment card for the BIF Information sheet.

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The definition of resident owner is (section 1, Schedule 1B, Queensland Building and Construction Commission Act 1991):


"resident owner, under a domestic building contract, means a building owner who—
(a) is an individual; and
(b) intends to reside in the building—
    (i) on completion of the domestic building work; or
    (ii) within 6 months after the completion of the work."
 

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