Residential Construction Contract

RESIDENTIAL CONSTRUCTION PROJECT INTAKE AND CONTRACT-DRAFTING PACKET

DO-NOT-SIGN GATE

This universal packet collects facts and drafting decisions only. It does not create an agreement, authorize work, require payment, select a cancellation period, waive a claim, provide a lien or bond document, or choose any remedy.

Do not add owner or contractor signature blocks to this packet. Local counsel must first classify the project and parties, verify every required term and notice from current official sources, and prepare or approve a separate executable contract.

All classifications resolved: ☐ Yes — [NAME / DATE]

Counsel approval to draft a separate contract: ☐ Yes — [NAME / DATE]

1. Packet Control

• Prepared by: [________________________________]
• Preparation date: [__/__/____]
• Matter or project number: [________________________________]
• Target contract date: [__/__/____]
• Reviewing attorney and jurisdiction: [________________________________]
• Intended contract form or required government form: [________________________________]
• Unresolved issue owner: [________________________________]

2. Owner and Property Facts

2.1 Owner

• Full legal name of each owner: [________________________________]
• Individual or entity status: [________________________________]
• Formation jurisdiction, if an entity: [________________________________]
• Primary residence and mailing address: [________________________________]
• Consumer, investor, landlord, developer, seller, or other role: [________________________________]
• Authorized representative and authority record: [________________________________]
• Protected status or special program requiring review: [________________________________]

2.2 Property

• Street address: [________________________________]
• City, county, state or territory, and postal code: [________________________________]
• Legal description or parcel identifier: [________________________________]
• Current title holder and title-report date: [________________________________]
• Existing use and occupancy: [________________________________]
• Intended use and occupancy: [________________________________]
• Owner-occupied during or after work: ☐ Yes ☐ No ☐ Unresolved
• Existing mortgage, construction loan, grant, subsidy, insurer, or program: [________________________________]
• Association, historic, environmental, coastal, flood, or other overlay: [________________________________]

3. Contractor and Project Participants

3.1 Contractor

• Full legal name: [________________________________]
• Entity type and formation jurisdiction: [________________________________]
• Principal place of business: [________________________________]
• Authorized signer and title: [________________________________]
• Contractor role and work classification: [________________________________]
• License or registration number, class, status, and expiration: [________________________________]
• License verification source and date: [________________________________]
• Bond or recovery-fund registration, if applicable: [________________________________]
• Disciplinary, suspension, or complaint information reviewed: [________________________________]

3.2 Other Participants

4. Project Classification

Select and describe; do not assume one selection answers another.

• ☐ New dwelling construction
• ☐ Addition or expansion
• ☐ Interior alteration or renovation
• ☐ Exterior repair or replacement
• ☐ Restoration or remediation
• ☐ Site, utility, accessory-structure, or landscape work
• ☐ Design-build or contractor-provided design
• ☐ Owner-builder or owner-performed portion
• ☐ Mixed project

• ☐ Classification unresolved

• Dwelling type and number of units: [________________________________]

• Stories, area, and principal structural system: [________________________________]
• Work requiring specialty credentials: [________________________________]
• Occupancy during work: [________________________________]
• Anticipated permit value: $[________________]
• Proposed contract value: $[________________]
• Aggregate project value: $[________________]
• Classification thresholds identified by counsel: [________________________________]

5. Contract Documents

Do not incorporate an item that has not been supplied, dated, and reviewed.

• Counsel-approved order of precedence: [________________________________]
• Documents expressly excluded: [________________________________]
• Version-control method: [________________________________]

6. Scope and Site Conditions

• Detailed work included: [________________________________]
• Work excluded: [________________________________]
• Owner-furnished work, labor, materials, or equipment: [________________________________]
• Contractor-furnished work, labor, materials, or equipment: [________________________________]
• Allowances and selection responsibility: [________________________________]
• Alternates and unit prices: [________________________________]
• Existing-condition information supplied: [________________________________]
• Concealed or differing-condition procedure proposed for review: [________________________________]
• Testing, surveys, geotechnical information, and utility locations: [________________________________]
• Hazardous materials and remediation responsibility: [________________________________]
• Site access, storage, security, utilities, cleanup, and neighbor protection: [________________________________]
• Plans, code, and field-condition conflict procedure: [________________________________]
• Closeout documents and deliverables: [________________________________]

7. Price, Deposit, Payment, and Records

• Pricing method: ☐ Lump sum ☐ Unit price ☐ Cost plus ☐ Guaranteed maximum ☐ Other
• Base price or calculation: [________________________________]
• Deposit or advance payment proposal: [________________________________]
• Deposit holder and account treatment: [________________________________]
• Payment application frequency: [________________________________]
• Milestones or schedule of values: [________________________________]
• Supporting records and certifications: [________________________________]
• Review, objection, and payment procedure: [________________________________]
• Retainage amount, cap, reduction, and release: [________________________________]
• Stored-material treatment: [________________________________]
• Allowance reconciliation: [________________________________]
• Withholding, setoff, and disputed-amount procedure: [________________________________]
• Interest or late-charge proposal: [________________________________]
• Cost-plus inclusions, exclusions, fee, audit, and record retention: [________________________________]
• Final-payment predicates: [________________________________]
• Current-law restrictions or mandatory wording: [________________________________]

No percentage, deposit, payment period, retainage term, interest rate, or refund period is selected by this packet.

8. Schedule, Delay, and Changes

• Conditions to commencement: [________________________________]
• Notice-to-proceed authority: [________________________________]
• Planned commencement: [________________________________]
• Milestones: [________________________________]
• Substantial-completion definition and target: [________________________________]
• Final-completion definition and target: [________________________________]
• Owner selection and decision deadlines: [________________________________]
• Delay categories and documentation: [________________________________]
• Delay notice, response, and time-adjustment procedure: [________________________________]
• Acceleration and disruption treatment: [________________________________]
• Proposed liquidated damages or bonus: [________________________________]
• Change-request initiators: [________________________________]
• Written authorization and emergency procedure: [________________________________]
• Change pricing, markup, schedule effect, and dispute procedure: [________________________________]
• Oral direction and field-order treatment: [________________________________]
• Current-law change-order requirements: [________________________________]

9. Licensing, Permits, Inspections, and Compliance

• Required contractor and trade credentials: [________________________________]
• Responsible permit applicant: [________________________________]
• Required permits and approvals: [________________________________]
• Permit and fee allocation: [________________________________]
• Inspection scheduling and correction responsibility: [________________________________]
• Applicable code editions and local amendments: [________________________________]
• Accessibility, energy, zoning, association, and land-use requirements: [________________________________]
• Workplace, wage, tax, immigration, environmental, and reporting review: [________________________________]
• Required contract license numbers or credential disclosures: [________________________________]
• Required agency or regulator complaint information: [________________________________]

10. Cancellation, Disclosures, and Copies

• Transaction location and solicitation method: [________________________________]
• Home-solicitation or consumer classification: [________________________________]
• Cancellation or rescission right, if any: [________________________________]
• Trigger, duration, day-counting rule, and deadline: [________________________________]
• Required notice heading, text, format, attachments, and duplicate copies: [________________________________]
• Permitted cancellation method and address: [________________________________]
• Refund, restoration, material, and work-stop consequences: [________________________________]
• Work-before-expiration request or emergency exception: [________________________________]
• Required pre-signing and post-signing disclosures: [________________________________]
• Required completed copy, delivery method, language, and timing: [________________________________]
• Counsel-approved exact text and current official source: [________________________________]

Do not insert a generic three-day cancellation notice or any refund period.

11. Lien, Bond, and Payment-Protection Review

• Property and project class for lien analysis: [________________________________]
• Potential claimant tiers: [________________________________]
• Preliminary, commencement, completion, payment, or other notices: [________________________________]
• Filing, recording, service, enforcement, expiration, and release rules: [________________________________]
• Prohibited, conditional, unconditional, progress, and final waiver rules: [________________________________]
• Required statutory waiver or release forms: [________________________________]
• Payment sequence coordinated with waiver effectiveness: [________________________________]
• Contractor, owner, lender, payment, performance, or license bond: [________________________________]
• Bond claim predicates and notices: [________________________________]
• Lien-removal or bonding procedure: [________________________________]
• Trust-fund, escrow, joint-check, or direct-payment rules: [________________________________]

Do not demand an unconditional waiver before the corresponding payment unless counsel confirms the selected law and form permit that sequence.

12. Warranties, Completion, and Correction

• Express workmanship warranty: [________________________________]
• Material and equipment warranties: [________________________________]
• Mandatory statutory or regulatory warranties: [________________________________]
• Implied-warranty treatment and limits on disclaimer: [________________________________]
• Warranty commencement and duration: [________________________________]
• Exclusions approved for this project: [________________________________]
• Notice, inspection, access, response, and correction procedure: [________________________________]
• Punch-list preparation and completion: [________________________________]
• Certificate of occupancy or other completion evidence: [________________________________]
• Owner maintenance obligations and manuals: [________________________________]
• Latent-defect and post-completion claim review: [________________________________]

13. Insurance, Indemnity, and Risk Allocation

• Contractor liability coverage and limits: [________________________________]
• Workers' compensation or exemption verification: [________________________________]
• Automobile, professional, pollution, cyber, or other coverage: [________________________________]
• Builder's-risk or course-of-construction coverage: [________________________________]
• Owner property and liability coverage: [________________________________]
• Additional-insured, waiver, primary, and completed-operations requirements: [________________________________]
• Certificates, endorsements, cancellation notice, and duration: [________________________________]
• Loss, deductible, and proceeds allocation: [________________________________]
• Indemnity and defense language approved under selected law: [________________________________]
• Consequential, incidental, delay, and economic-loss treatment: [________________________________]
• Liability cap or exclusion, if permitted and selected: [________________________________]
• Damage to existing work, adjacent property, persons, and utilities: [________________________________]

14. Default, Suspension, Termination, and Remedies

• Contractor default events: [________________________________]
• Owner default events: [________________________________]
• Required notice, cure, opportunity, and delivery rules: [________________________________]
• Payment withholding or suspension procedure: [________________________________]
• Work suspension and site-protection duties: [________________________________]
• Termination for cause: [________________________________]
• Termination for convenience: [________________________________]
• Cancellation distinguished from termination: [________________________________]
• Demobilization, materials, subcontracts, records, and transition: [________________________________]
• Completion-cost and final-accounting procedure: [________________________________]
• Insolvency and bankruptcy provisions for counsel review: [________________________________]
• Available remedies and prohibited remedy terms: [________________________________]

No cure period, termination fee, automatic lien right, fee award, or other remedy is selected by this packet.

15. Claims and Dispute Terms

• Project-level notice and decision procedure: [________________________________]
• Claim documentation and timing: [________________________________]
• Negotiation or escalation: [________________________________]
• Mediation: [________________________________]
• Court, arbitration, or another forum: [________________________________]
• Arbitration administrator and rules, if selected: [________________________________]
• Governing law: [________________________________]
• Permitted venue: [________________________________]
• Jury-trial provision, if any: [________________________________]
• Attorney-fee and cost allocation: [________________________________]
• Interim or emergency relief: [________________________________]
• Limitation and repose periods identified by counsel: [________________________________]
• Claim accrual, tolling, notice, and pre-suit requirements: [________________________________]
• Consumer, public-policy, or nonwaiver restrictions: [________________________________]

Do not use a generic limitations range, prevailing-party clause, out-of-state forum, or arbitration provision without current-law review.

16. Contract Assembly and Release Record

Before releasing a separate executable contract, counsel should confirm:

• ☐ Every jurisdiction, party, property, work, price, and funding classification is resolved.
• ☐ Current official law and required government or regulator forms were checked.
• ☐ Every mandatory contract term, warning, disclosure, notice, attachment, and copy is included.
• ☐ Licensing, permit, credential, and complaint-information requirements are satisfied.
• ☐ Deposit, payment, retainage, change, trust, and record terms match the selected legal package.
• ☐ Cancellation text, timing, delivery, refund, and commencement consequences are exact.
• ☐ Lien, bond, waiver, release, notice, service, and claim terms are coordinated.
• ☐ Warranty, completion, correction, insurance, indemnity, damages, and limitation terms are approved.
• ☐ Default, suspension, termination, remedy, dispute, venue, fee, and claim terms are approved.
• ☐ All exhibits are attached, dated, and internally consistent.
• ☐ Every blank in the executable contract is completed or intentionally deleted.

• ☐ Signature, initials, witness, notarization, electronic-record, delivery, and copy rules are satisfied.

• Reviewing attorney: [________________________________]

• Licensed jurisdiction and number: [________________________________]
• Review date: [__/__/____]
• Approved executable contract title and version: [________________________________]
• Required delivery package: [________________________________]
• Remaining conditions to release: [________________________________]

End of intake and drafting packet. This packet is not the parties' agreement.