Before you sign

Everything in this course narrows to two moments. The week you sign, and the week you pay the first valuation. Get those two right and most of what can go wrong on a self-build never starts.

These are not summaries. They are checks: five questions each, answered from your own documents rather than from memory. Answering a question from the paper in front of you is what makes you notice the answer you did not have.

Answer these from the contract, with the clause number written beside each one.

1. What am I paying, and when does each payment fall due? Not “monthly”. The actual mechanism: who assesses the amount, how many days you then have, and what happens if you disagree.

2. What happens the first time somebody says “that will be extra”? Find the clause. If a change has to be priced and agreed in writing before it starts, you are protected. If the contract is silent, you are not, and you should ask for that before you sign rather than after.

3. Is any money held back, and when does it come back? Retention, how much, and the two release dates. If there is none, you have nothing to hold at the end when the snag list is being argued about, and you should decide that knowingly.

4. Whose insurance covers the works, and have I seen the certificate? Not “they said they’re insured”. The certificate, in date, in the right name.

5. Is the priced schedule attached to the contract? The document you compared, listed as a contract document. Otherwise what you agreed and what you signed are two different things.

If you cannot answer one of these, that is the finding. Ask the question in writing before signing. A written answer from a builder becomes part of the deal; a verbal one becomes a disagreement.