Choosing a builder and the building contract for a self-build

Get at least three builders to price the same drawings and specification, then agree a written contract before work starts. Check what each price includes, how payments will be certified and whether your lender can release the money in time.

Shortlist builders with relevant experience

Ask your architect or engineer for names and speak to recent clients. Visit a job in progress as well as a finished house. Check that the builder is established, has built houses of your size and can start when you need them.

Find out who will actually be on site and who will supervise the work. References for a company are useful, but you also need to know who will run your job and answer questions during the build.

Give every builder the same tender information

Send identical drawings, a written specification and a list of items you will supply yourself. Ask for the price broken down by trade or stage. If one quote is far below the others, ask the builder to explain the difference before treating it as a saving.

Compare exclusions, quantities and allowances as well as totals. Check the effect on your budget and contingency. An omitted item still needs funding, whoever eventually supplies it.

Before signing, check:

• Insurance. Ask for current public liability and employer’s liability certificates and confirmation that the activities and project are covered. Check dates, limits and exclusions with the insurer or broker; a certificate alone does not establish full cover. See contract works and public liability.
• Tax clearance. Get evidence that it is current. It confirms tax status, not workmanship or financial stability.
• References. Talk to clients and inspect completed work.
• Site supervision. Confirm who will be there and who has authority to make decisions.

Put the scope and responsibilities in writing

Have your solicitor review the completed contract and amendments before you sign. Your architect or engineer can help choose a suitable standard form and explain how it will be administered.

The contract should cover:

• Scope and price. Identify drawings and specifications by number and date. Record the pricing basis and whether the price is fixed.
• Programme. Set start and completion dates and explain what happens if the builder is late.
• Payments. Agree stages and certification by your appointed design professional. Check that you can fund the dates through your lender’s stage payments.
• Retention. Record any deduction held back, its cap, release dates and defects-notice procedure. See snagging.
• Variations. Agree how changes are instructed, priced and approved in writing before work is done, including how urgent or disputed work is handled.
• Insurance and documents. Assign responsibility for cover, certificates, drawings and warranties, including any structural defects cover.
• Disputes and termination. Explain how disagreements are escalated and how either party can end the contract.

Use a full contract with a main contractor. If you hire trades directly, give each a written scope and agreement; see insurance when you project manage. Your lender or structural defects insurer may also expect a written contract.

Choose a suitable standard form

Standard forms available through the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland (RIAI) include SF88 (Pink), a Plain English (White) form and a 2025 Blue contract without quantities (no itemised bill of quantities). Ask your architect which edition fits your project and procurement route. A colour or price tells you little about the responsibilities you are accepting.

Have them explain the pricing method, certification, insurance, retention and dispute provisions. Confirm that the person administering the contract has been appointed to do that job. Your solicitor should review the completed form and any amendments before you commit.

Understand how the price can change

• Fixed price or lump sum. You agree one price for a defined scope. Check exclusions, allowances and price-adjustment clauses. Changes you request are priced as variations, but whether omitted work is an extra depends on the contract and scope; it is not automatically payable.
• Remeasurable work. Quantities are measured as built and charged at agreed rates. Ask your adviser how changes in quantities will affect the final cost.
• Cost-plus. You pay actual costs plus a fee or percentage. Agree recoverable costs, evidence, audit rights, the fee basis and budget controls. Ask whether a cap can be agreed.
• Provisional sums. These are allowances for work not yet designed, such as a kitchen, landscaping or ground conditions. Get a list and compare both the allowances and any work excluded from them.

Match payments to progress and available cash

Agree how work is valued and certified, when payment falls due and which notices are required. Follow the architect’s or engineer’s certification process where the contract appoints one. Reconcile the builder’s payment dates with the lender’s release conditions before signing: these are separate timetables.

For any retention, record the deduction rate, cap, release triggers and defects period. Follow those terms. A snag list does not automatically entitle you to hold every remaining payment, so get advice before withholding a disputed sum. See snagging and consumer remedies.

Discuss protection for any proposed deposit or advance payment before accepting it. During construction, keep copies of certificates, instructions and correspondence, and raise problems in writing early. If the builder stops work altogether, see if your builder goes bust or walks off the job.

Worked example: calculate a stage payment

These figures are illustrative and use the same VAT basis throughout. Suppose a €300,000 contract deducts 5% retention, capped at €15,000. At the roof-watertight stage:

Item	Amount
Work certified by the architect	€150,000
Approved variation	€4,000
Gross certificate	€154,000
Less 5% retention	−€7,700
Less earlier payments	−€100,000
Due now	€46,300

The calculation is €154,000 − €7,700 − €100,000 = €46,300. Your actual retention and stages depend on your contract.

Record changes and delays

Keep a variations log with the date, instruction, price and approving person. Agree who can instruct changes and what happens when a price is disputed or work is urgent. An unpriced or verbal instruction can still give rise to a payment claim; do not assume it is free because the paperwork is incomplete.

Agree the completion date, how the builder can claim extra time, and whether the builder pays a fixed daily sum for late completion (liquidated damages) with your solicitor. These damages are not automatic. The contract should say which delays earn an extension, including your own late decisions or exceptionally bad weather.

Check which dispute procedure applies

The Construction Contracts Act 2013 provides payment protections and adjudication for contracts within its scope. Section 2 excludes contracts worth €10,000 or less. It also excludes a contract relating only to a dwelling of 200m² or less where one party occupies or intends to occupy it as their residence.

A larger house is not excluded by that residential rule, but other scope conditions still matter. Ask your solicitor whether your contract is covered and which dispute route applies. Being outside this Act does not remove other contractual or consumer rights.

Check whether Relevant Contracts Tax applies

A private householder hiring a builder is not a principal for Relevant Contracts Tax (RCT), so does not deduct RCT from those payments. This is separate from checking the builder’s tax clearance.

Get tax advice if you are yourself a principal contractor, such as a builder or developer building your own house. The exclusion for someone whose only construction work is for their own or their employees’ use should not be extended to someone who also carries on a construction business without advice.

Agree the final documents and defects process

Where statutory completion certification applies, the builder and assigned certifier sign the Certificate of Compliance on Completion. An eligible single dwelling can opt out through the required process; Building Regulations still apply. Agree alternative inspections and documents with your advisers, lender and any structural defects insurer before work starts.

Inspect the finished work and notify defects in writing. Release retention under the contract and any applicable consumer remedies. You cannot simply invent a new release condition at the end of the job.

Stop and check these warning signs

• A very low price with a thin specification.
• Pressure for a large deposit or cash upfront.
• No written contract, or promises to sort the paperwork later.
• Refusal to show insurance, references or completed work.
• Requests for stage payments ahead of certified progress.
• Unwillingness to name the site foreman or supervisor.

Before signing, check that you have three comparable tenders, understand the provisional sums and have agreed the contract form with your architect and solicitor. Confirm payment stages, retention, defects, completion, delay and variation terms. Tell your lender and insurer which builder and form you will use, and keep the insurance and tax-clearance evidence with the signed agreement.