Construction Contracts: Questions and Answers

• Is there a difference between inspecting and supervizing?
• What does ‘time-barred’ mean?
• Is the contractor entitled to take possession of a section of the work even though it is the contractor's fault that possession is not practicable?

Construction law can be a minefield. Professionals need answers which are pithy and straightforward, as well as legally rigorous. The two hundred questions in the book are real questions, picked from the thousands of telephone enquiries David Chappell has received as a Specialist Adviser to the Royal Institute of British Architects.

The material is considerably updated from the first edition – weeded, extended and almost doubled in coverage. The questions range in content from extensions of time, liquidated damages and loss and/or expense to issues of warranties, bonds, novation, practical completion, defects, valuation, certificates and payment, architects’ instructions, adjudication and fees. Brief footnotes and a table of cases are included for those who wish to investigate further.

This will be an invaluable reference for architects, project managers, contractors, QSs, employers and others involved in construction.

David Chappell is director of David Chappell Consultancy Limited, sometime Professor and Senior Research Fellow in Architectural Practice and Management Research at the Queen’s University Belfast, and Visiting Professor of Practice Management and Law at the University of Central England in Birmingham. He has written many articles and books for the construction industry, including Understanding JCT Standard Building Contracts with SPON Press, now in its 8th edition. He frequently acts as an adjudicator.