A construction agreement should turn expectations into an operating system for the project. It cannot predict every condition, but it should explain what will be built, what is not included, how decisions are made, when money moves, and what happens when facts change.
HHM develops the project agreement around the transaction, responsible parties, property address, scope, pricing method, payment path, applicable requirements, and customer rights. Qualified North or South Carolina counsel addresses transaction-specific lien, cancellation, licensing, enforcement, and dispute terms when needed.
Correct parties and property
Confirm the legal customer, legal contracting entity, property address, notice addresses, and signer authority. Verify applicable credentials and insurance independently. A trade name, salesperson, or website may not be the party responsible under the agreement.
Scope and documents
List incorporated drawings, specifications, proposal versions, selections, allowances, addenda, and exclusions. Establish which document controls if they conflict. Identify owner-supplied items and who handles ordering, delivery, damage, storage, installation compatibility, and warranty.
Price and allowances
State whether pricing is fixed, cost-plus, unit-priced, time-and-materials, or another structure. Define taxes, permit fees, freight, contractor markup, allowances, alternates, contingency, and reimbursable expenses. For each allowance, identify quantity, assumed product level, labor treatment, and reconciliation.
Payment milestones
The agreement should explain how payments relate to contractual milestones or documented progress. Address deposits, retainage if used and permitted, invoices, payment method, draw inspections, late payment, disputed amounts, lien documentation, and final payment conditions. The agreement, lender requirements, and applicable law control these terms.
Schedule and delays
Identify expected start/completion framework, prerequisites, owner decisions, material lead times, permitted delay causes, notice requirements, schedule updates, and the effect of changes. Avoid treating a target date as an unconditional guarantee when permits, inspections, weather, utilities, or concealed conditions remain unresolved.
Changes and concealed conditions
Define who can authorize changes, required documentation, pricing method, schedule effect, emergency authority, and treatment of unknown site or building conditions. Set approval limits for exploratory or time-and-material work.
Permits, design, and trade responsibility
State who provides design and engineering, obtains permits, schedules inspections, coordinates utilities, and performs regulated trade work. Identify the authority having jurisdiction and any HOA, historic, environmental, or lender requirements that remain separate.
Protection, access, and living conditions
Address work hours, property access, keys/codes, pets, occupied-area protection, utilities, temporary facilities, dust/noise, hazardous materials, owner belongings, parking, security, cleanup, and photography/privacy. Operational site documentation and optional marketing permission should be separate.
Insurance, damage, and risk
Identify required insurance, responsibility for existing conditions, stored materials, theft, weather, property damage, and owner occupancy. Ask an insurance professional about builder’s risk or renovation coverage appropriate to the project.
Completion and warranty
Define substantial completion if applicable, punch process, final inspection, occupancy approvals, manuals, registrations, keys, lien documents, final payment, and warranty start. Separate manufacturer product coverage from contractor workmanship and excluded maintenance, abuse, movement, moisture, or third-party work.
Suspension, termination, and disputes
Review notice, cure, suspension, termination, payment, material ownership, demobilization, dispute-resolution, governing-law, and attorney-fee terms with qualified counsel as appropriate. Determine whether any cancellation right applies to the particular transaction before signing or paying; do not assume every construction agreement has the same right.
Next step: Create a one-page responsibility matrix from the agreement. If the team cannot tell who owns a task, when it is due, and how completion is proven, clarify it before construction.