Home · Construction Contracts
Construction Contracts That Settle the Hard Questions Before Work Begins
If you’re a commercial property owner, body corporate, property manager or developer, this is for you. Aamsko drafts, reviews and manages your construction contract, so scope, price, payment and accountability are agreed in writing before anyone sets foot on site.
Book a Consultation$190 for up to an hour, credited to your fee if you proceed.
Or call +64 22 497 0421. We reply the same business day. Not ready yet? Download the free contract checklist.
Do you need a construction lawyer, or a construction contract specialist?
For most commercial and body corporate projects, what you need is the contract done properly, not a law firm running the clock on an hourly rate. Drafting, reviewing and managing a construction contract, including payment claims, variations and extensions of time, is commercial and technical work, not legal work. That’s exactly what Aamsko does, starting with a fixed-fee consultation.
Who does Aamsko act for?
We work the owner’s side of the contract, the side that funds the project and has to answer for it. Aamsko acts for commercial property owners, body corporates and their property managers, and developers, and builds every contract so you can explain each decision to your committee, your board or your lender without a second thought.
Every dollar accounted for
Levy-funded budgets, committee approvals, and owners who expect a clear account of every decision. We structure the contract and the reporting so your committee can stand behind every figure at the next general meeting, not scramble to explain it.
Tenants kept operating
Occupied buildings, leases you need to protect, and a budget that has to hold. Access, working hours, staging and the price mechanism get agreed before the contract is signed, not haggled over once work is on site.
Programme and cash flow secured
A contract form that fits your procurement route, from NZS 3910 construct-only to NZS 3916 design and build, drafted, reviewed and administered from tender right through to final account.
How does a well-priced project end up over budget?
Rarely through one large mistake. It happens through small gaps in the contract that surface one at a time: an exclusion nobody named, a variation process nobody agreed and a payment claim answered too late. Each gap looks minor on the day the contract is signed, and costly by the time it is found.
The approval
The committee approves the tender. The price is clear. What the price excludes is not, because the contract relies on the contractor’s standard terms.
The first variation
Conditions on site differ from the drawings, and the contractor claims a variation. The contract never said who carries that cost, so the committee now has to explain to owners why the budget has moved.
The payment claim
A progress claim arrives, including the disputed variation. Under the Construction Contracts Act 2002, a payment schedule is due within the contract’s period, or 20 working days if none is set. Miss it, and the full amount claimed can be recovered as a debt.
The general meeting
Owners ask how it happened. Without a clear contract and a record of decisions, there is no straightforward answer to give them.
The same project, with the contract settled first, reads very differently.
A 2025 analysis of 35 New Zealand construction court cases found the most significant cause of dispute was a lack of understanding of the Construction Contracts Act. Silva, Domingo and Ali, Construction Innovation, 2025.
What changes when the contract is settled first?
The difficult questions get answered before work starts, not fought over halfway through it. We record what’s excluded, how the price can move, how payment claims are made and answered, and how progress gets reported, so if anything’s disputed, the contract settles it, not memory.
$190 for up to an hour, credited if you proceed.
How does Aamsko draft, review and manage a construction contract?
Four stages, in this order: pick and draft the right contract, review the terms before you sign anything, manage the contract once work starts, and get ahead of disagreements while there’s still time to fix them. At every stage, we check it against your drawings, budget and programme, not just the wording on the page.
- A written review with the changes we recommend
- A plain-English summary your committee or board can approve from
- Cost reporting against budget at each payment milestone
- Step one
Select and draft the right contract
NZS 3910:2023, NZS 3916, NEC or a bespoke agreement, whichever fits, with special conditions written for your project. Scope, exclusions, price basis, payment stages and time, all set out in plain words you can actually read.
- Step two
Review before you sign
Holding a tender contract, or the contractor’s own standard terms? We go through them clause by clause against your drawings, budget and programme, and tell you exactly what to change before you commit to anything.
- Step three
Manage the contract once work starts
Payment claims and payment schedules under the Construction Contracts Act, variations, extensions of time and progress certification, including acting as Engineer to Contract under NZS 3910.
- Step four
Resolve disagreements early
When something goes wrong, we set out your position with the evidence behind it and push for an agreed outcome, before a disagreement turns into a dispute.
Why owners come to Aamsko before a construction lawyer: the same team handles quantity surveying, building surveying, consents and project management too, so every clause gets tested against real quantities, real programmes and real site conditions, not just the words on the page. And the first step comes with a fixed fee, so you know what it costs before you start.
What should you know before signing an NZS 3910 or bespoke construction contract?
That the form of contract you choose shapes everything that follows: who certifies payments, how variations get valued, how delays get decided. What’s below shows how these contracts actually work in practice, and what the research says about where New Zealand’s construction disputes really start.
Managing a construction project under NZS 3910:2023
Best practice and key considerations for owners and principals working under New Zealand’s standard conditions of contract for building and civil engineering.
ReadThe role of the Engineer to Contract
How an independent Engineer to Contract certifies payments, values variations and decides extensions of time, and why that role must be exercised fairly between the parties.
ReadWhat 35 New Zealand court cases reveal about construction disputes
The most significant cause was a lack of understanding of the Construction Contracts Act, followed by poor work quality and improper payment schedules. The pre-contract stage is where prevention is most effective.
ReadWe’ve never delivered a project over the budget we scoped.Aamsko · Auckland, New Zealand · Since 2016
Aamsko is an Auckland building consultancy and project management firm at Level 1, 30 Broadway, Newmarket, working across Auckland and New Zealand since 2016. We draft, review and manage construction contracts, including NZS 3910:2023, NZS 3916 and NEC, alongside quantity surveying, building surveying, consents and project management, for commercial property owners, body corporates, property managers and developers. Between us, our qualifications span architecture, architectural technology and law.
Won’t a proper contract slow the project down?
No. What delays a project is a dispute: stopped work, contested claims and a committee or board waiting for answers. A well-structured contract can even allow an earlier start, with a defined first stage while the remainder is priced. And the first step is a one-hour consultation for $190, credited back if you proceed.
Discuss your contract with us, for up to one hour
What happens when you get in touch:
- i.Same-day replyWe reply the same business day with times that suit.
- ii.A preliminary consultationUp to one hour for $190, including GST. Once you’ve chosen a time, we email an invoice, payable before we meet.
- iii.Make the hour countSend us the contract, tender documents or correspondence beforehand, so the full hour is spent on your project.
- iv.No surprisesIf further work is needed, you receive a written estimate first, with your $190 credited against it.
Need to change your time? Let us know at least 24 hours ahead and we’ll move it at no cost.
Aamsko provides construction contract consulting and project management. Our consultations and services are not legal advice, and we don’t act as your lawyer.
Book your consultation
Tell us about the project and the contract. It takes under a minute.
Auckland-based since 2016, and never over the budget we scoped.
Nothing proceeds beyond the consultation until you approve a written estimate.
Prefer to talk it through? Call +64 22 497 0421
Before You Sign: the New Zealand construction contract checklist
A fourteen-page guide for commercial owners, body corporates and developers: the eight-point contract checklist, your Building Act and Building Code obligations, warranties and defects, subcontractors, insurance, and exactly what to do when a payment claim arrives.
Download the checklist
Free. Your download appears straight away, and we’ll email you a copy.
- Eight checks before you commit
- Building Act, Building Code and warranties
- Subcontractors and the six insurances to require
- Governance, payment claims and retentions
Your checklist is ready.
Download the ChecklistConstruction contracts, answered
Clear answers on contracts, payment claims, governance and fees.
Book a ConsultationDo we need a construction lawyer to review a construction contract?
Not usually. Reviewing a construction contract is mainly about scope, price, payment mechanisms, time and defects, which is commercial and technical work. Aamsko checks those against your drawings, budget and programme, which is where most contract problems start, and often for less than a law firm charges.
How much does a construction contract review cost in Auckland?
Aamsko starts with a one-hour consultation for $190 including GST, credited against the fee if you proceed. Stand-alone review or drafting is quoted in writing before work starts. When Aamsko manages the project and the contract together, including securing warranties, the fee is 8% of the project value, plus GST.
Should we accept the contractor’s own contract terms?
Only after a careful review. A contractor’s standard terms are written to protect the contractor. Check the scope and exclusions, how the price can change, the payment terms, the time allowed to answer payment claims, and how defects and delays are handled. Aamsko reviews contractors’ terms clause by clause and sets out what to change before you sign.
How can a body corporate committee approve a construction contract with confidence?
By approving evidence, not just a number. That means a defined scope with the exclusions named, the price mechanism and contingency shown, and an agreed way to report cost against budget. And confirm the committee actually holds the authority the body corporate’s resolutions and the Unit Titles Act 2010 require, before anyone signs.
What happens if we don’t respond to a payment claim?
Under the Construction Contracts Act 2002, you must reply with a payment schedule within the time the contract sets, or 20 working days if it sets none. If you’ll pay less than claimed, the schedule must say how much and why. Miss the deadline and the full amount claimed can be recovered from you as a debt.
What is the difference between NZS 3910 and NZS 3916?
NZS 3910:2023 is a construct-only contract: the principal provides the design and an Engineer to Contract administers it. NZS 3916 is its design-and-build counterpart, where the contractor also takes responsibility for design. The right choice depends on how much design responsibility you want the contractor to carry.
What is a measure-and-value contract?
A contract where the price is calculated from the quantities of work actually carried out, at agreed rates, rather than one fixed sum. It suits work whose full extent can’t be known upfront, such as remedial work on an existing building. Aamsko pairs it with a visible contingency, so owners see the realistic range before they commit.
Can Aamsko act as Engineer to Contract?
Yes. Under NZS 3910, the Engineer to Contract certifies progress payments, values variations, decides on extensions of time and issues completion certificates, and must act fairly between the parties when making those decisions. Aamsko takes on that role for Auckland projects. More on the Engineer to Contract service.
Level 1, 30 Broadway© 2026 Aamsko. All rights reserved. Level 1, 30 Broadway, Newmarket, Auckland 1023, New Zealand.