Get help negotiating your construction contracts and protect your cash flow, margin and acceptable risk position.
The bid you put in for a project usually changes during construction contract negotiations. So it’s critical you have the best team to negotiate your construction contract.
Don’t have a commercial team? Your team is too busy? Rachelle Hare can help.
Practical negotiation support from a Senior Construction Lawyer and Commercial Adviser with 25+ years experience in the Construction Industry and negotiating on hundreds of projects.
We review your bid, help you work out your negotiating position, and then negotiate the terms of the draft construction contract (either leading or supporting).
So you can sign then get on with the project – on terms your business can carry and with your critical Assumptions intact.
Margin, time and cash flow on every Project are decided by you in your bid. Negotiation is where those decisions are protected, qualified or eroded depending on the contract you are asked to sign and the leverage you bring to the table. We negotiate construction contracts for Head Contractors, Subcontractors, Specialist Trade Contractors, Suppliers and Tenderers across Brisbane, Queensland and Australia.
Engaged at pre-tender, tender lodgement, pre-signing or post-signing. Fixed-price quote per matter. Direct engagement with Rachelle Hare on every brief.
By the time you reach contract negotiation, your bid has already set the price, the program assumptions, the scope inclusions and exclusions, the Provisional Sum and PC Item allowances, and the risk you have priced for. Negotiation is the work of getting the contract document to reflect those positions, qualifying or removing the risk allocation that goes beyond what you priced for, and securing the Special Conditions that protect your position through delivery.
Blaze Business & Legal negotiates construction contracts for Head Contractors, Subcontractors, Specialist Trade Contractors, Suppliers, Tenderers and Bid Teams across Brisbane, Queensland and Australia. Engagements are run by Rachelle Hare personally, with no juniors. Every matter is quoted fixed-price unless we agree otherwise for tasks that cannot be quoted.
We are engaged at every stage of the contract lifecycle, on every Australian Standards form, on Council and Principal template construction contracts, on bespoke and heavily-amended contracts, on Subcontracts, supply agreements, consultancy agreements, Joint Venture and Alliance arrangements, and on government and Defence Subcontracts where the Contractor sits below a head Contractor or government agency.
The Contractors who walk in with a contract that reflects their bid assumptions, prices the risk they have agreed to carry and gives the delivery team a fair set of mechanics to administer are the ones who hold their margin.
The Contractors who sign the Principal’s template contract under tender pressure inherit risk that was never priced and notice regimes the delivery team cannot meet. In my experience, this pattern is consistent regardless of contract value, contract form or position in the chain.
Contract negotiation is not a single event. It happens across four stages, and the leverage available to the Contractor is different at each one. We are engaged at any stage, but the stage at which we are engaged determines what we can deliver.
The earliest and most leveraged stage. Before the bid is priced, we review the draft contract, identify the non-standard risk allocation, advise on the risk that has to be priced or qualified, and draft the Statement of Departures. We work with the bid team and the Commercial Manager so that the bid price reflects the contract risk and the qualifications schedule reflects the assumptions you are bidding on.
The bid goes in with a Statement of Departures attached. We draft the Statement of Departures in the format the Principal’s lawyers will read seriously, ranked by priority, with the must-have departures separated from the nice-to-have. Most Principals negotiate harder on a tender Statement of Departures than after award, because the competitive tension is still active.
The bid has been awarded but the contract is not yet executed. This is where most of the sit-down negotiation happens. We work through the Statement of Departures with the Principal’s representatives, support the Commercial Manager and the Director through each issue, and arrive at an agreed set of Special Conditions and Annexures.
The contract is signed and something has gone wrong on the Project, or events have intervened. We work through the formal contract mechanisms (Variations, Extension of Time claims, latent conditions claims, force majeure claims, change in law claims) and the commercial pressure points to negotiate a renegotiated position the Contractor can live with.
The earlier the contract review and negotiation strategy starts, the more leverage you have at every subsequent stage. A Construction Lawyer engaged the week before signing has already lost most of the room to negotiate. The same Construction Lawyer engaged at pre-tender, alongside the bid team, can shape the bid price, the Statement of Departures and the negotiation position from the start.
We negotiate construction contracts for every Contractor-side position in the contractual chain.
Head Contract review and negotiation against Principal-side template contracts. Tier 1 head contracts on infrastructure, civil, commercial, defence, mining services and resources Projects. Tier 2 and Tier 3 Head Contracts on commercial, civil and government work.
Subcontract review and negotiation against Head Contractor flow-down terms. Specialist Trade Contractors carrying back-to-back design coordination and interface management obligations. Subcontractors negotiating set-off, withholding, retention and performance bond positions.
Pre-tender contract review feeding into the bid price and the Statement of Departures. Bid commercial review and qualifications schedule drafting. Tender clarifications strategy and Principal response analysis.
Supply agreement review and negotiation. Long-form supply contracts on infrastructure and resources Projects, framework supply arrangements with Tier 1 Contractors, and supply agreements with Principals where the Supplier is contracting directly.
Joint Venture Agreements between Contractors.
Alliance Agreements with Principals.
Early Contractor Involvement (ECI) arrangements transitioning into delivery contracts.
Public Private Partnership consortium arrangements where the Contractor is part of the consortium.
We negotiate every major Australian Standards form, the international forms used in Australia, the Council and Principal template contracts that Tier 1 Principals and developers prefer to use, and bespoke or heavily-amended contracts.
AS4000 (Construct Only) and AS4300 (Design and Construct). AS2124 (Construct Only) and AS4902 (Design and Construct, minor works). AS4901 (Subcontract, Construct Only) and AS4903 (Subcontract, Design and Construct). AS4122 (consultancy agreements).
The Australian Standards remain the most heavily-amended forms in the market, and we work through every Special Condition and Departures Schedule against the General Conditions.
The Australian Building Industry Contract suite, used widely on commercial and residential building work where the Architect is the contract administrator. We negotiate ABIC head contracts and the related Subcontract forms.
The Engineering and Construction Contract from the New Engineering Contract suite. Increasingly used on Australian infrastructure. NEC4 has a different drafting style and risk culture to the Australian Standards, and we adjust the negotiation approach accordingly.
The Red Book (Construction), Yellow Book (Plant and Design-Build) and Silver Book (EPC/Turnkey). Used on international Projects in Australia and Australian Projects with international Principals or Contractors.
Tier 1 Principal templates (Lendlease, Multiplex, John Holland, CPB, Acciona, Laing O’Rourke and similar), developer head contracts, government and council template contracts (including GC21 used by some Queensland Government bodies), and Australian Standards with extensive Special Conditions packages.
Template contracts require a different review approach and we adjust the Statement of Departures format accordingly.
HIA, Master Builders Queensland and ABIC domestic forms used on residential and small commercial work. We review and negotiate these where construction businesses are using them as templates, or where Contractors are dealing with Domestic Building Contracts under the QBCC Act.
The clauses that justify negotiation effort are the ones that drive money, time and risk on the Project. Construction contracts contain hundreds of clauses, and trying to renegotiate every one of them is a fast way to lose the deal and waste legal fees.
The General Conditions of an Australian Standards form carry a default risk allocation that the parties have agreed represents an equitable starting point. Principals routinely amend the General Conditions in the Special Conditions to push more risk onto the Contractor, and the Special Conditions are where most of the negotiable risk sits. A clause-by-clause comparison against the General Conditions identifies where the Principal has departed from industry standard.
Time bar clauses extinguish entitlements, including Extension of Time claims and variation claims, if notices are not given within the prescribed period. Notice periods of 2 to 5 Business Days for delay events are common. Extension of Time clauses cover Principal-caused events and neutral events such as inclement weather, latent conditions, change in law and force majeure. Concurrent delay clauses sit at the centre of most program disputes.
Liquidated Damages set a fixed daily or weekly rate for delayed Practical Completion. The rate must represent a genuine pre-estimate of the Principal’s loss. Caps on total Liquidated Damages, expressed as a percentage of the contract sum, are routinely negotiated. Delay damages provisions for Principal-caused delay are a separate negotiation.
Indemnities are where construction businesses most often agree to risks they have not priced. Broad indemnities can require the Contractor to indemnify the Principal for losses the Contractor has not caused, that exceed the Contractor’s insurance coverage, or that the insurer will not pay because they sit outside the insured risk. Liability caps, exclusions of consequential and indirect loss, and carve-outs for Principal contributory negligence are core negotiation issues.
Payment terms drive cash flow. Reference dates for progress claims, due dates for payment, payment schedule timeframes, retention and security regimes (cash retention, bank guarantees, performance bonds, parent company guarantees), and set-off and withholding rights all sit inside the Building Industry Fairness (Security of Payment) Act 2017 framework in Queensland and equivalent legislation in other jurisdictions.
Variation clauses govern how scope changes during the Project. Variation pricing methodology, Provisional Sum and PC Item adjustment mechanics, and the definition of what is in scope (with everything else triggering a Variation) are routinely contested. Tier 1 Principals frequently argue that work the Contractor priced as a Variation was already in the original scope.
Latent conditions clauses allocate the risk of conditions encountered on site that differ from those expected. Tier 1 Principals on infrastructure work often push latent conditions risk onto the Contractor with a geotechnical baseline the Contractor is required to verify. Subcontractors are often passed back-to-back latent conditions clauses already amended in the Head Contract.
Practical Completion triggers the Defects Liability Period, the release of part of the retention, and the end of daily Liquidated Damages. The test for Practical Completion, the conditions precedent the Contractor has to satisfy, and the discretion the Superintendent has to refuse certification all matter commercially.
Termination for cause clauses, termination for convenience clauses, suspension rights and Principal step-in rights can damage a construction business if they are exercised. Cure periods, compensation on convenience termination, the scope of suspension rights and cross-default provisions are core negotiation issues on Tier 1 and Tier 2 work.
Insurance requirements (public liability, works insurance, professional indemnity, contractor’s plant), performance bond percentages and conditions, bank guarantee terms, parent company guarantees and director personal guarantees all drive Contractor capital and balance sheet exposure.
Tiered dispute resolution clauses (negotiation, mediation, expert determination, arbitration, litigation), adjudication carve-outs preserving statutory security of payment rights, Dispute Avoidance Boards on long-running infrastructure work, and senior executive escalation procedures.
The clauses that get the most negotiation attention from Contractors are not always the ones that hit the business hardest. Liquidated Damages get more attention than they deserve relative to indemnities, limits on liability and consequential loss.
Variation pricing methodology is often signed off without negotiation when it determines whether scope creep will cost the Contractor or the Principal.
Time bars are accepted because the delivery team assumes they can comply, until they cannot.
The clauses that drive margin are not always the ones that look most contentious on first read.
Priority-rank your Statement of Departures in a separate document before your first negotiation meeting. This way you go into negotiations knowing your must-have items and which can be compromised on. Rachelle can help you prepare a Negotiation Matrix. Principals respond well to a focused negotiation where you are able to provide considered reasons for why you are pushing back on a particular issue.
Most negotiation advice jumps straight to clauses. The clauses come later. The first work is assessing the parties, the leverage, the team and the bid.
The identity of the other party shapes everything that follows. A Tier 1 Head Contractor brings a template Subcontract, an internal legal team, and positions the Subcontractor is rarely going to shift on first principles. A private developer brings a different dynamic, often with less internal legal capability and more flexibility on commercial terms. A government Principal brings a template contract (usually with heavy amendments), a probity framework, and limited scope to negotiate amendments.
Negotiation efforts should match the commercial significance of the Project. Contract value, duration, strategic importance to the business, relationship value of the Client, and the risk profile of the work all dictate how much negotiation effort is justified.
Most construction businesses have a Sales or Business Development team that wins the work, a Commercial team or Commercial Manager that prices and structures the deal, a Legal team or external Construction Lawyer that reviews the contract, and a Project team that delivers the Works. Whether those four functions are connected during the negotiation, or operating in parallel without communicating, is one of the strongest predictors of how the contract turns out.
Larger Tier 1 and Tier 2 Contractors typically run an internal Legal team and an experienced Commercial team. Mid-market and smaller Contractors usually have neither, and need external support for the legal review, the Statement of Departures and the negotiation.
Rachelle Hare of Blaze Business & Legal acts as External General Counsel, External Commercial Manager and Construction Lawyer for construction businesses without those functions in-house.
Does the Contractor need the job, or does the Contractor have a strong pipeline and the option to walk away? Does the Principal need the Contractor specifically, or is the Contractor one of three on a competitive tender? Has the Principal already announced the appointment publicly, removing their option to switch Contractors? Is the program tight enough that the Principal cannot afford another tender round?
The negotiation position is different at each stage of the bid process. Pre-tender, the Contractor has full leverage. Post-bid but pre-award, the Contractor still holds leverage because the Principal has not committed publicly. Post-award and pre-signing, the leverage is reduced because the Principal has indicated a preference and walking away is more disruptive for both parties. Post-signing, the leverage is at its lowest.
Every bid carries assumptions. The bid price assumes a defined scope, particular Provisional Sum and PC Item allowances, an agreed program, and exclusions for risks that have not been priced. Those assumptions are commercially binding on the Contractor, but they are only legally binding on the Principal if they are written into the contract.
The most common failure we see on Brisbane, Queensland and national Projects is bid assumptions that never make it into the executed contract. The bid letter records them, the tender clarifications record them, and then the executed contract is silent on them, with the Principal’s template contract taking precedence. Six months into delivery, Contractors usually find they need to point out the assumptions to the Principal, however by then the Contractor may have no contractual basis to enforce the assumptions.
Draft your bid assumptions into the Contract, the Special Conditions or the Statement of Requirements explicitly, and confirm with the order of precedence clause where the assumptions sit in the contract hierarchy.
Recording assumptions only in the bid letter or tender clarifications is the most common reason assumptions get lost between bid and contract.
Unless requested otherwise, Rachelle’s negotiation style is more commercial than legal. The legal position sets the boundary of what can be argued, but the negotiation itself is run on commercial reasoning, with the Contractor’s business needs and the Project realities at the front of the analysis.
Every negotiation is run on the Client’s instructions, not on a generic template position. We agree the priorities upfront, the trade positions you are willing to make, and the lines you are not willing to cross. The negotiation runs to those instructions throughout, with us coming back to the you before any meaningful concession is made.
Rachelle’s negotiating styles is grounded in 25 years of construction industry experience across Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 3 Contractors, in-house and in private practice, and six years as a Commercial Manager. That experience gives Rachelle an in-depth understanding of how each clause in a construction contract operates legally, how it operates commercially against margin and cash flow, how it operates at the Project level when delivery is under way, and how the choice of project delivery method (Construct Only, Design and Construct, Managing Contractor, Early Contractor Involvement, Alliance, Public Private Partnership) shifts the emphasis on particular clauses.
The result is negotiation advice that is commercially defensible, legally sound, and tailored to the Project at hand, rather than a textbook position applied to every contract.
Subcontract negotiation requires different legal and commercial approaches from Head Contract negotiation. The Head Contractor is often trying to flow Head Contract risk down to the Subcontractor on a back-to-back basis, or make sure any risks under the Subcontract are less than the Head Contractor must bear under the Head Contract.
The Subcontractor is trying to negotiate amendments to the flow-down to suit their business commercial and operational needs without losing the Subcontract.
Head Contract obligations flowed down verbatim into the Subcontract, often with modifications that increase the Subcontractor’s exposure beyond the Head Contractor’s position. Back-to-back review identifies which Head Contract obligations are appropriate to flow down, which need modification, and which the Subcontractor should resist.
Subcontracts often contain broad Head Contractor rights to withhold payment, set-off cross-claims and apply retention. We negotiate narrower trigger definitions, notice obligations before withholding, and progressive retention release rather than release at Head Contract Final Certificate.
Subcontract variation clauses often include shorter notice periods than the Head Contract and tighter approval mechanics. Concurrent delay provisions need to recognise Head Contractor-caused and Principal-caused delay, not just Subcontractor-caused delay.
Subcontract performance bonds, retention, parent company guarantees and director personal guarantees often exceed what the Head Contract requires of the Head Contractor. We negotiate the security package down to what the Subcontract value justifies.
Subcontractors who priced their tender carefully and documented their assumptions in writing usually find the Head Contractor more willing to negotiate than the Subcontract form suggests. The Head Contractor needs the work done, the program is running, and the Head Contractor’s commercial team understands which positions are flexible. All you need as Subcontractor is a negotiation adviser who understands this.
Joint Venture, Alliance and Early Contractor Involvement arrangements introduce contracting layers that single-contract negotiation does not cover.
Joint Venture Agreements between Contractors set out the JV’s contracting structure, profit sharing, decision-making rights, capital contributions, default and exit provisions. The JV Agreement runs alongside the Head Contract with the Principal and needs to be negotiated in tandem.
Alliance Agreements between the Principal and the Contractor parties create a collaborative contracting framework with shared risk, target outturn cost, gainshare and painshare regimes. Alliance Agreement negotiation focuses on the commercial framework, the alliance principles, and the limited liability carve-outs.
Early Contractor Involvement arrangements bring the Contractor into the Project before the design and price are settled. ECI agreements need clear provisions for the transition into the delivery phase contract, including the conditions on which the Contractor accepts the design and the price.
PPP consortium arrangements between the construction Contractor, the financier, the equity sponsors and the operations and maintenance Contractor sit alongside the Project Agreement with the State. We negotiate the consortium agreements and the construction contract within the consortium structure.
A signed contract is not the end of the negotiation. It is the lowest-leverage position the Contractor will be in, but it is not a closed door.
The levers that work post-signing are the ones the contract itself provides. Variation requests under the variation clause. Extension of Time and delay damages claims under the Extension of Time provisions. Latent conditions claims under the latent conditions clause. Change in law claims under the change in law clause. Force majeure claims under the force majeure clause. Each lever runs through the formal contract mechanism, with strict notice requirements.
Outside the contract mechanisms, the levers are commercial. The Principal needs the Project finished. The Contractor has the program in hand. The Principal does not want to switch Contractors and accept the cost and delay of doing so. Those commercial realities create room for renegotiation that the contract itself does not require.
Where payment claim disputes have escalated, we work with the Contractor on pre-adjudication strategy, payment claim drafting and adjudication application strategy under the Building Industry Fairness (Security of Payment) Act 2017 and equivalent legislation. Adjudication runs in parallel to contract renegotiation.
Use the contract mechanisms properly while you read the commercial position accurately. The Contractors who succeed in post-signing renegotiation are the ones who have given the right notices, preserved the right entitlements, and identified the right commercial pressure points. The Contractors who fail are usually the ones who let the time bars run, signed off on Variations they should have priced, and assumed the Principal would do the right thing.
Most law firms can only assist with a contract negotiation in a Construction Lawyer capacity. Blaze Business & Legal can assist in three different ways, and we agree which one applies before any work begins. We can take the lead on negotiations, either in a Construction Lawyer role or a Commercial Manager role, running the conversation with the Principal directly. We can support your negotiating team, sitting alongside your Commercial Manager or Director and contributing on the points where our experience is needed. We can provide background advisory, where your team runs the negotiation and we are available between sessions for advice on positions, drafting and strategy. We agree in advance whether our services are Legal, Commercial Advisory or both, and we agree a relevant scope of services before the engagement starts.
You send the draft contract, your role in the Project, your timing and the specific concerns the bid team or Commercial Manager has flagged. We discuss the negotiation lead, support or background advisory model that fits your business, and whether the scope is Legal, Commercial Advisory or both. We confirm scope on a no-obligation basis.
Rachelle reviews the draft contract personally and provides a fixed-price quote covering the agreed scope (Legal Review, Commercial Review, Statement of Departures, Negotiation Strategy and the agreed level of negotiation support). The quote is based on the contract type, contract value, position in the chain, stage of engagement and the agreed scope of work.
Once the quote is accepted, we issue our Disclosure Notice and Costs Agreement for signing. Scope, fees and deliverables are documented before any work begins.
Rachelle reviews the contract personally, identifies the non-standard risk allocation, advises on the risk that needs to be priced or qualified, drafts the Statement of Departures in the format the Principal’s lawyers will read, and prioritises the negotiation positions.
We provide a written Negotiation Strategy covering the priority issues, the legal and commercial reasoning supporting your position on each, the trade positions available, and the lines we recommend you do not cross. During the negotiation, we provide advice on appropriate negotiation strategies (legal and commercial) and keep track of each Statement of Departures issue, the resolution reached and the compromises made on the way through.
During and after negotiations, we can issue a formal Negotiation Outcomes document that captures each issue discussed and the agreed position. The document gives you a written record of what was agreed, what was traded, and what is reflected in the executed contract.
After negotiations are complete, we can assist with Contract Drafting and Contract Review for any revised contract documents the Principal sends through, so that the executed contract reflects the positions actually agreed during the negotiation.
Every construction contract negotiation is run by Rachelle Hare personally. No juniors. The Construction Lawyer who reviews the contract is the Construction Lawyer who runs the negotiation.
Rachelle has more than 25 years of construction industry experience, including in-house roles at Australia’s largest Tier 1 construction Contractors (Acting General Counsel at Thiess, Senior Legal Counsel at Laing O’Rourke and Acciona), top-tier private practice at Corrs Chambers Westgarth and McCullough Robertson, work through the Australian Government Solicitor, and six years as a Commercial Manager for a Tier 2 Construction and Technology provider.
Most Construction Lawyers have only worked on one side of the negotiation table. Rachelle has drafted Special Conditions for Tier 1 Head Contractors and reviewed Statements of Departures from Subcontractors. She has sat as a Commercial Manager negotiating against Tier 1 Principal lawyers who were doing exactly what she had been doing in the in-house roles. That two-sided experience determines which positions a Principal will accept and which the Principal will not.
We can lead the negotiation, support your team, or provide background advisory between sessions. We agree in advance whether the scope is Legal, Commercial Advisory or both. Most law firms can only assist as a Construction Lawyer.
Every Legal Review, Statement of Departures and negotiation engagement is quoted fixed-price. No hourly billing. No surprises.
Brisbane-based, working with construction businesses across Queensland, New South Wales, the ACT, Victoria and other jurisdictions.
I have negotiated construction contracts from both sides of the table. As Acting General Counsel at Thiess and Senior Legal Counsel at Laing O’Rourke and Acciona, I drafted Special Conditions and reviewed Statements of Departures for Tier 1 head contracts. As a Commercial Manager for a Tier 2 Construction and Technology provider for six years, I sat on the Contractor side and ran the negotiation against Tier 1 Principal lawyers who were doing exactly what I had been doing in the in-house roles.
The single biggest lesson from that experience is that the Principal’s lawyers know which departures the Principal will accept and which the Principal will not. If you don’t ask for something in your bid, usually in the Statements of Departures, you won’t receive it. But for everything you request, you need to have a cohesive argument for why the amendment is being requested, what you’re asking for, and the impacts on pricing. A priority-ranked internal Negotiation Matrix is key for the success of your negotiation, so you know what you need to push for and what you can give away.
The other lesson is about the team behind the negotiation. The Contractors who win the negotiation are the ones whose Sales, Commercial, Legal and Project teams are talking to each other before the bid goes in, not after. Where one of those functions is missing, it’s important you get in an experienced Construction Lawyer or Commercial Manager to fill the gap – Rachelle can do both.
The best time to bring in a Construction Lawyer is at pre-tender, before the bid is priced. The Construction Lawyer reviews the draft contract, identifies the non-standard risk allocation, drafts the Statement of Departures, and works with the bid team so that the bid price reflects the contract risk. Engaging at pre-signing is workable but lower-leverage. Engaging post-signing usually means the contract is locked, and the only remaining options are renegotiation under defined contract mechanisms or claim management.
A construction contract can be renegotiated after signing, although the leverage is different. Post-signing renegotiation works through Variation requests, change in law claims, force majeure events, latent conditions claims, and commercial pressure where the Principal needs the Contractor to keep delivering. A signed contract is not the end of the negotiation, but it is the lowest-leverage position the Contractor will be in.
A Statement of Departures is a legal drafting document that records every change the Contractor wants made to the Principal’s draft contract, ranked for negotiation. It is used at tender lodgement to attach to the bid, and at pre-signing to drive the sit-down negotiation. Principals will read a well-drafted Statement of Departures seriously and reject a poorly-drafted one without engaging.
If your business has no internal legal or commercial team, Blaze Business & Legal acts as External General Counsel, External Commercial Manager and Construction Lawyer on a fixed-price per matter basis or a monthly retainer. The arrangement gives you senior expertise without a full-time hire.
Bid assumptions end up in the executed contract when they are drafted into the Annexure or the Special Conditions explicitly, with the order of precedence clause confirming where the assumptions sit in the contract hierarchy. Recording assumptions only in the bid letter or tender clarifications is the most common reason assumptions get lost between bid and contract.
The clauses that matter most in a Subcontract negotiation are back-to-back flow-down provisions, set-off and withholding rights, variation approval mechanics and notice timeframes, Extension of Time entitlement under concurrent delay provisions, design coordination and interface management obligations, performance bond and retention arrangements, and broad indemnities. These are the clauses where Subcontractors most often agree to risks they have not priced.
We negotiate every Australian Standards form, including AS4000 (Construct Only), AS4300 (Design and Construct), AS2124, AS4902 (D&C, minor works), AS4901 and AS4903 (Subcontract forms). The Australian Standards remain the most heavily-amended forms in the market, and the Statement of Departures focuses on the Special Conditions package that sits on top of the General Conditions.
We negotiate FIDIC Red, Yellow and Silver Books and the NEC4 Engineering and Construction Contract on Australian Projects with international Principals or Contractors, and on infrastructure work where these forms are used.
After negotiations are complete, we can assist with Contract Drafting and Contract Review for any revised contract documents the Principal sends through, so that the executed contract reflects the positions actually agreed during the negotiation. We can also issue a formal Negotiation Outcomes document that captures each issue discussed and the agreed position for discussion internally and to keep track of negotiated positions when the revised Contract needs to be reviewed.
Blaze Business & Legal negotiates construction contracts for Clients across Queensland, New South Wales, the ACT, Victoria and other jurisdictions. Rachelle is more than happy to visit your business for a period of time to assist in negotiations in-person.
A fixed-price quote for a construction contract negotiation is calculated based on the contract type, the contract value, the position in the chain, the stage of engagement, and the agreed scope of the work (Legal Review only, Legal Review with Statement of Departures, full negotiation support, post-signing renegotiation, or Commercial Advisory scope). The fixed-price quote is provided after Rachelle reviews the draft contract and confirms scope, with no obligation to proceed if you’re not happy with its terms.
Construction businesses negotiating a construction contract should engage Blaze Business & Legal at pre-tender or pre-signing for a Legal Review, Statement of Departures and the agreed level of negotiation support. Send the draft contract, the Project context, your role in the chain and your timing. Rachelle will confirm scope and provide a no-obligation fixed-price quote.
Construction Lawyer, Business Adviser and Commercial Manager|Blaze Business & Legal
Rachelle has more than 25 years of experience in construction law, business advisory, commercial management, contract administration and construction business structuring. Her career includes senior in-house legal roles at Tier 1 and Tier 2 construction companies including Thiess, Laing O'Rourke and Acciona, and private practice experience at top-tier law firms Corrs Chambers Westgarth and McCullough Robertson. She also spent over six years as a senior commercial manager on Defence and Tier 2 Construction and Technology Projects, including 8 months as Deputy Program Manager on a construction and technology program of National significance. At Blaze Business & Legal, Rachelle works alongside Shannon Drew to provide integrated construction law, financial management, commercial and business advisory services to construction businesses across Australia.
Get help negotiating your construction contracts and protect your cash flow, margin and acceptable risk position.
The bid you put in for a project usually changes during construction contract negotiations. So it’s critical you have the best team to negotiate your construction contract.
Don’t have a commercial team? Your team is too busy? Rachelle Hare can help.
Practical negotiation support from a Senior Construction Lawyer and Commercial Adviser with 25+ years experience in the Construction Industry and negotiating on hundreds of projects.
We review your bid, help you work out your negotiating position, and then negotiate the terms of the draft construction contract (either leading or supporting).
So you can sign then get on with the project – on terms your business can carry and with your critical Assumptions intact.
