Guano de Aves

The Articles of agreement

For example, with the JCT 05 SBC/Q contract the blank spaces will be filled in with the date the agreement was made, the names and addresses of both the Employer and the contractor, a brief statement of the nature and location of the Works, the numbers of the contract drawings, the contract sum (in words and in figures) and the names and addresses respectively of the architect/contract administrator and quantity surveyor. Also, where the contractor is to design a portion of the works, the nature of the design works is to be specified.

On contracts where bills of quantities are not used (i.e., JCT 05 SBC/XQ), it is possible that the employer would not appoint a quantity surveyor, as a result an Article is provided which gives the option of naming the person who shall be exercising the quan- tity surveying functions. The option not required should be struck out in a neat and clear manner.

After the Articles of Agreement and the section on Contract Particulars, there follows the Attestation where there are spaces for the signatures of the parties. Where the agreement is to be executed under hand the Employer (or his representative) signs in the first space and the contractor (or his representative) signs in the second space and the signature of a witness follows their signature. If the signature of the Employer and contractor is obtained at the same time, as is usual, the witness may be the same person in each instance.

When either party must, or wishes to, execute the contract as a deed, as in the case of some local authorities and other public bod- ies and corporations, an alternative signature page is provided where there are three options by which the agreement may be

executed. A corporate company may execute the contract by imprinting its common seal on the document in the presence of a director and company secretary (or two directors) or alternatively by inserting the names of a director and company secretary (or two directors). In both instances these actions are to be confirmed by the signature of the director company secretary, etc. A local authority or similar organization that is not covered by the Companies Act 1985 must only use the first option, i.e., the use of a common seal. The third option relates to a party who is not a corporate organization and is acting as an individual, in which case they are to sign in the appropriate place in the presence of a witness who likewise is to sign the contract.

The Conditions

Some clauses of the Conditions in the JCT Forms contain alter- native wording. Attention is drawn to these alternatives in foot- notes and to the need for appropriate deletions. For example, clauses 4.8, 4.17.4, 4.19, 4.21, 6.7 provide just some instances. Such deletions should be clearly and neatly made.

There may be need or desire for other alterations or additions to be made to the clauses of a standard form in a particular case. All such alterations and additions, as well as the alternatives to be deleted, should be specifically listed in the ‘Preliminaries’ sec- tion of the bills or specification and, if this has been done, the list may then be used as a checklist in the preparation of the stand- ard form for executing the contract.

The blank spaces in the Contract Particulars (see Appendix B) should also be filled in, in accordance with a further list in the bills or specification. It should be noted that if nothing is stated against certain of the clause numbers, then specified time periods will apply. The parties should initial each amendment to the printed docu- ment in the adjacent margin. This serves to confirm that all amendments were made before the contract was executed and that no amendment was made subsequent to that event.

Bills of quantities

The priced bills submitted by the contractor should show clearly all the amended and corrected rates and prices, etc., which have been agreed between the contractor and the surveyor. If an adjusting

amount, equal to the amount of the errors, has been entered in the General Summary, then an endorsement should be added indicat- ing the percentage effect on the measured rates and prices (see p. 102). On the reverse of the last page a further endorsement should be added, saying ‘These are the Contract Bills referred to in the Contract’ with spaces for the signatures of the parties, set out in the same way as in the Articles of Agreement.

Specification

Where the specification is a contract document, all that is necessary is to endorse on the reverse of the last page the words ‘This is the Specification referred to in the Contract’ with spaces for the signa- tures as in the case of bills. The schedule of rates should show clearly all corrections and amendments which have been agreed between the surveyor and the contractor. If, alternatively, a Contract Sum Analysis has been submitted, this should be signed by the parties and attached to the Specification or to the Contract Conditions.

Schedule of Works

If a priced Schedule of Works has been submitted by the con- tractor when tendering, that will be a contract document instead of the specification. It should be endorsed in a similar manner as that described for specifications and be signed by the parties.

Drawings

It is desirable that each of the drawings should be endorsed either ‘This is a contract drawing’ or ‘This drawing was used in the preparation of the bills of quantities’ or some similar state- ment. Many firms have rubber stamps for this purpose.

Following the execution of the contract, the contract documents are to be kept by the Employer although the contractor has the right to inspect them at any reasonable time.