ABSTRACT
As mentioned earlier, standard forms of contract have been developed in construction by commercial organisations for the purpose of providing a balanced distribution of risk; for efficient administration of the contractual activities; for building on the experience gained from repeated use of these forms; but most of all for the optimum protection of one or both parties’ interests.1 They were mostly drafted and developed, however, by independent professional organisations, rather than by one or other of the parties to the contract, in order to establish or consolidate a fair and just contract. Knowledge accumulated through experience and recurrent use over a long period of time has brought about revisions and modifications in these forms with the aim either of achieving greater certainty in the intention of the wording or of providing a response to the needs of the parties and/or society.
