No blank spaces, no missing dates
Why — act while you have leverage
A contract with the date, the permit number or the party details left blank is not finished, and blanks get filled in later by whoever holds the document.
What to look at
- Every blank filled before signature
- Permit and property details matching your own documents
- Both copies initialled on every page, and identical
How to check it yourself
Before signing, go through every page for empty fields, "TBD", and placeholder text. Check the building permit number and the property details are filled in and match your papers. Initial every page, and make sure both copies are identical - compare them side by side rather than trusting they are.
Where this comes from: Kolo review of Kerala construction quotations and agreements (established trade practice)
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
- Curing is the contractor's job, in writing
- 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
- 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