Curing is the contractor's job, in writing
Why — act while you have leverage
Concrete gains most of its strength in the first two weeks and only if it is kept wet. Agreements that push curing onto the owner transfer the single cheapest thing that determines how strong the house is - and one did it while offering a fifteen-year structural guarantee.
What to look at
- Curing named, with the responsible party
- A stated number of days
- How it squares with any structural guarantee in the same document
How to check it yourself
Find who is responsible for curing. IS 456 requires the surface to be kept wet for at least seven days in ordinary cases. If the agreement makes it yours, understand you have taken on a daily site duty for a fortnight per pour - and ask how a structural guarantee survives it.
Where this comes from: IS 456:2000 cl. 13.5 - curing (indian standard or building code)
More construction agreement checks before you sign
- Agreement check passed
- Contractor background verified
- Site handover checklist agreed
- Worker-welfare rules applicability checked
- GST treatment understood before signing
- The payment schedule keeps money back until the end
- The agreement does not contradict itself
- GST is stated, and you know who pays it
- You know who you are contracting with
- Price escalation has a limit you can calculate
- Foundation extras cannot be open-ended
- The arbitrator is not chosen by the contractor alone
- There is a warranty, and it has a length
- Worker safety stays with the contractor
- Signing for a stage does not sign away everything after it
- There is a way to settle a dispute short of court
- Cancellation terms are not written by one side
- Nobody else builds your house without you knowing
- No blank spaces, no missing dates
- Money goes to the company, not to a person
- You can ask where the money went
- Delay has a consequence for both sides
- The quotation is attached to the agreement
- Force majeure is not a blanket excuse
The whole stage: Construction agreement checks before you sign