Terms and conditions for a builder doing commercial work

Commercial building work is a different contractual world from an extension for a homeowner. You are quoting against a specification, taking instructions from a site manager, invoicing against applications and waiting on a payment certificate that may never arrive. I draft customer terms built around that reality, for a fixed fee of £995, delivered in five working days, with a covering note explaining every commercial choice so you can hold the line in a negotiation.

Who this is for

Building contractors in England and Wales working for developers, landlords, managing agents, main contractors, shopfitters and commercial occupiers, whether you trade as a sole trader, partnership or limited company. Your customers here are businesses, so consumer protections do not apply, but many builders run both sides of the business and need to know which set of terms goes out with which quote.

What matters in a commercial builder's terms

Whose paperwork actually governs the job

You send a quotation with your terms attached. The client sends back a purchase order, or a main contractor issues a subcontract order referring to conditions you have never read. Whichever document goes last and is acted on tends to win, so incorporation matters more than drafting. Your terms need a clause stating that they apply to the exclusion of any other conditions, and your office needs a habit of responding to a bare purchase order rather than starting work on it. Getting this right is the single biggest practical difference between having terms and having protection.

Payment, payment notices and adjudication

The Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996 applies to construction contracts between businesses for construction operations, which covers most of what you do on a commercial site. It implies a right to refer a dispute to adjudication at any time, a right to staged payments where the work will take 45 days or more, payment notice and pay less notice machinery, and it bans pay-when-paid clauses. If your terms say nothing, the statutory scheme fills the gap on terms you did not choose. I draft the payment cycle so the dates, applications and notices work for you.

Retentions, final accounts and late payment

Commercial clients hold retention, sit on the final account and query measured work months after handover. Your terms should fix when retention is released, what triggers practical completion, and how long the client has to raise a defect before the account is closed. The Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998 gives you statutory interest at 8% over base rate plus fixed compensation per unpaid debt, and a 30-day credit period where none is agreed. A contractual interest rate only displaces the Act if it is a substantial remedy, so a token rate leaves you worse off.

Variations, site conditions and delay

On a live commercial site you take instructions from whoever is standing in the room, and the argument arrives at the final account. Your terms should require variations to be confirmed in writing with the price and the effect on the programme before you proceed, and should give you an extension of time and cost recovery where you are delayed by other trades, late possession of areas, restricted working hours or the client's own design information. Where the client wants liquidated damages for delay, the terms need a matching route for you to claim time when the delay is not yours.

Design, specification and defects

There is a real difference between building to someone else's specification and taking on design responsibility for a buildability decision you were asked to make on site. Your terms should state which you are doing. Under the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982 you owe business customers reasonable care and skill; a clause promising that the finished works will be fit for the client's purpose is a heavier obligation and one insurers look at closely. The terms should also deal with certification or notification required under the Building Regulations, and set a defects period with a clear right to return and put things right.

Liability, insurance and subcontractors

Commercial clients read the liability clause, and procurement will push back on anything they consider one-sided. Under the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 a limit in written standard terms has to be reasonable, judged on bargaining strength, insurance and what each side knew, and liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence cannot be excluded at all. I set a cap that relates to your contract value and insurance cover, exclude consequential and economic loss, allow subcontracting, and exclude third party rights under the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 so that only a collateral warranty you have actually agreed gives anyone else a claim.

What it costs

Customer or supplier terms and conditions, £995. One set of terms, customer-facing or supplier-facing, drafted around your business. Five working days.

Review of your existing terms, £495. You already have terms and want to know how much of a problem they are. Returned marked up with my amendments and an explanation of the changes. Three working days.

Buying online forms the engagement on payment. The scope is what the terms and conditions drafting page describes, you accept the Terms of Service at checkout, and I email you within four working hours to get started. If you would rather ask something first, email me.

What you get

• A full set of terms drafted around your business, not a template with your name inserted
• A covering note in plain English explaining every commercial choice I made and why, so you can defend the terms in a negotiation without ringing me
• Liability, payment, termination and IP provisions set at a level that will survive a procurement review
• Consumer-facing wording drafted to be enforceable where you sell to consumers
• Guidance on how to incorporate the terms properly, which is where most businesses actually fail
• One round of amendments after you have read them

What is not included

• Negotiating your terms with individual customers
• Sector-specific regulatory compliance beyond the contract terms themselves
• Website privacy notice and cookie compliance, which I quote separately
• Terms governed by the law of another country

Questions I am often asked

The main contractor insists on its own subcontract conditions. Are my terms wasted?

They are not. You will lose some fights up the chain, but your terms set your starting position, they govern every client who does not impose their own, and they tell you exactly what you are giving away when you sign a subcontract order. My covering note explains each provision so you can identify the amendments worth arguing about.

Does the right to adjudicate apply if I am building for a private landlord?

The statutory construction contract rules do not apply to a contract with a residential occupier who will live in the property. They do apply where your client is a developer, an investor landlord, a business occupier or another contractor, even if the building itself is housing. The terms should make clear which regime the particular job falls under.

I do domestic work as well. Can one set of terms cover both?

One set can, with a clearly separated consumer section, but commercial and domestic building work pull in opposite directions on payment, cancellation and liability. Most builders doing a meaningful volume of both are better served by two sets. My page on terms for a builder doing domestic work covers the homeowner side.

Related guidance and services

• Terms and conditions drafting, £995, the service this page describes
• Contract review, £495
• Consultancy and contractor agreements, £595
• Terms and conditions for a builder doing domestic work
• Terms and conditions for a roofing business

This page is general guidance for businesses in England and Wales, not advice on your own circumstances. Last reviewed: September 2026. Email geoffrey@caesar.co.uk.