JCT Standard Building Contract 2024
JCT Standard Building Contract with Quantities 2024 (SBC/Q 2024), Joint Contracts Tribunal
This content was produced with the help of AI and may contain mistakes or be out of date. Check clause numbers, dates and statutory details against the primary source before relying on them. Disclaimer
Why This Matters for Part 3
The JCT SBC 2024 is the most heavily tested contract document in Part 3. Examiners test the CA's certification duties, the interim payment mechanism, extension of time grounds, loss and expense, practical completion criteria, and the distinction between the CA's quasi-judicial role and their role as agent of the employer.
The JCT Standard Building Contract 2024 is the primary form for traditional procurement on larger projects (typically above £500k). It creates a tripartite relationship: employer, contractor, and Contract Administrator. The CA is a named individual or firm who administers the contract (issuing instructions, certifying payments, and making quasi-judicial decisions on claims), but is not a party to the contract. The 2024 edition updates the 2016 edition in key areas: payment provisions aligned with the HGCRA amendments, updated CDM and BSA references, and revised fluctuations provisions.
Contract Structure and Parties
The Contract Administrator (CA)
JCT SBC 2024: Articles 3 and 4; clause 1.1 (definitions)
The CA is named in the Contract Particulars and has sole authority to issue instructions under the contract. The CA is not a party to the contract. They hold a special status as an impartial certifier who owes duties to the contract and, through their professional appointment, to the employer. The CA cannot be instructed by the employer to act unfairly to the contractor.
Examiners frequently test whether candidates understand that the CA's duty of impartiality means they cannot simply act as the employer's agent when making decisions on claims, EoT, or certification. This is a common oral exam trap.
Principal Contractor and CDM
JCT SBC 2024 clause 3.23; CDM 2015
The contractor is named as the Principal Contractor under CDM 2015 for the construction phase. The CA's role does not extend to construction phase health and safety coordination. This is the Principal Contractor's responsibility. The architect, if also appointed as Principal Designer under CDM, has separate pre-construction obligations.
Design Responsibility
JCT SBC 2024 clause 2.2; Contractor's Designed Portion (CDP)
In the standard form, design responsibility rests with the employer's design team. However, JCT SBC 2024 includes provision for a Contractor's Designed Portion (CDP), being elements where the contractor takes design responsibility. The employer's requirements for the CDP must be included in the contract documents. The CA must not issue instructions that have the effect of creating an unintentional CDP without the contractor's consent.
Payment
Interim Certificates
JCT SBC 2024 clause 4.8–4.14; HGCRA 1996
The CA issues interim certificates at the intervals stated in the Contract Particulars (typically monthly). Each certificate specifies the gross valuation, retention, and the amount due. The employer must pay the certified sum by the Final Date for Payment (typically 14 days after the CA issues the certificate). The payment mechanism is governed by the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996.
Know the payment notice chain: CA issues interim certificate → 5 days for employer's payment notice → employer's pay less notice must be served ≥7 days before Final Date for Payment → if not, certified sum must be paid in full.
Pay Less Notices
JCT SBC 2024 clause 4.12; HGCRA 1996 s.111
If the employer wishes to pay less than the certified sum, they must serve a pay less notice specifying the sum they propose to pay and the grounds for paying less. This must be served no later than the prescribed period before the Final Date for Payment (default: 7 days). A pay less notice that does not specify the grounds is invalid. If no valid pay less notice is served, the full certified sum becomes a debt due.
Retention
JCT SBC 2024 clause 4.18–4.20
The employer retains a percentage of each interim payment (default: 3% under SBC/Q 2024). Half the retention is released when the CA certifies Practical Completion. The remainder is released when the CA certifies that all defects listed in the Schedule of Defects have been made good. The retention fund is held in trust for the contractor under JCT 2024. The employer cannot use it as working capital.
Final Account
JCT SBC 2024 clause 4.24–4.30
Within 6 months of Practical Completion, the contractor submits their final account documents. The CA has a further 3 months to ascertain and certify the Final Certificate. The Final Certificate is conclusive evidence (unless challenged within 28 days by adjudication, arbitration, or litigation) of: the sum finally due to the contractor; that all work is to the standard required by the contract; and the resolution of all matters that should have been raised before it.
The finality provisions of the Final Certificate are a common exam topic. The 28-day challenge window is short. After it passes, neither party can re-open the matters covered by the certificate.
Instructions and Variations
CA Instructions: Form and Effect
JCT SBC 2024 clause 3.10–3.12
Only the CA can issue instructions to the contractor. Instructions must be in writing. If given orally, the CA must confirm them in writing within 2 days. The contractor may request written confirmation of any oral instruction. If the CA does not dissent within 7 days, the contractor's confirmation is treated as the CA's instruction. The contractor must comply forthwith with CA instructions.
Variations
JCT SBC 2024 clause 3.14–3.16; clause 5.1–5.5 (valuation)
A Variation is a change to the works instructed by the CA under clause 3.14. Variations include changes to the design, quality, or quantity of the works, and changes to access, working hours, or sequence. The CA cannot instruct a variation that would constitute an 'omission to give to others' without the contractor's consent. Variations are valued by the QS using a schedule of rates, daywork, or a fair valuation.
Provisional Sums
JCT SBC 2024 clause 3.16; SMM7 / NRM2
Provisional Sums are allowances in the contract sum for work that cannot be fully defined at tender stage. The CA instructs the expenditure of provisional sums by issuing an instruction specifying the work to be done. Defined provisional sums must be priced by the contractor; undefined provisional sums give the contractor no entitlement to include preliminaries in their tender.
Time: Programme, EoT, and Delay
Contractor's Programme
JCT SBC 2024 clause 2.9
The contractor must provide a master programme within 14 days of the Date of Possession. The CA may request updates. The programme is not a contract document and does not bind either party, but the CA uses it to assess the impact of Relevant Events on the completion date.
Extension of Time: Grounds
JCT SBC 2024 clause 2.29 (Relevant Events)
The contractor may apply for an Extension of Time (EoT) if completion is delayed by a Relevant Event. The Relevant Events listed at clause 2.29 include: variations instructed by the CA; suspension of the works by the contractor for non-payment; exceptionally adverse weather; force majeure; delay by statutory bodies; and delay caused by the employer or other nominated persons. Contractor-caused delay is not a Relevant Event.
Know the distinction: Relevant Events give the contractor EoT (protecting them from liquidated damages) but do NOT give them loss and expense. Only Relevant Matters (clause 4.24) give entitlement to loss and expense. Some events (like CA variations) appear in both lists.
Extension of Time: Procedure
JCT SBC 2024 clause 2.27–2.28
The contractor must give written notice to the CA as soon as it becomes reasonably apparent that completion may be delayed. They must then provide particulars and an estimate of expected delay. The CA must assess and grant EoT within 12 weeks of receiving sufficient particulars (or by the Completion Date if sooner). The CA may also grant EoT on their own initiative (clause 2.28.5), an important power when reviewing the final account.
Liquidated Damages
JCT SBC 2024 clause 2.32
If the contractor fails to complete by the Completion Date (as extended), the employer may deduct Liquidated and Ascertained Damages (LADs) at the rate stated in the Contract Particulars. The CA must first issue a Non-Completion Certificate. The employer serves a pay less notice deducting LADs. LADs are a genuine pre-estimate of the employer's loss; they are not a penalty (which would be unenforceable).
Practical Completion and Defects
Practical Completion
JCT SBC 2024 clause 2.30
The CA certifies Practical Completion when, in their opinion, the works are practically complete. There is no statutory definition. Case law (Hoenig v Isaacs [1952], Tameside MBC v Barlow Securities [2001]) establishes that Practical Completion means the building is complete for its intended purpose, even if there are minor outstanding items (snagging). The CA cannot withhold PC certification for trivial defects. Certification triggers: release of half the retention; start of the Rectification Period; employer takes possession; insurance obligations transfer.
Do not confuse Practical Completion with Making Good Defects. PC ends the contractor's obligation to complete; it does not end their obligation to return and fix defects. The Rectification Period (formerly Defects Liability Period) follows PC.
Rectification Period and Defects
JCT SBC 2024 clause 2.38–2.39
After Practical Completion, the Rectification Period runs for the period stated in the Contract Particulars (default: 6 months for SBC; 12 months is common for complex projects). During this period, the CA may issue instructions to the contractor to make good defects. At the end of the Rectification Period, the CA issues a Schedule of Defects, a written list of remaining defects that the contractor must rectify. When all defects on the Schedule are made good to the CA's satisfaction, the CA issues a Certificate of Making Good, releasing the second half of retention.
Loss and Expense
Grounds for Loss and Expense
JCT SBC 2024 clause 4.23–4.24 (Relevant Matters)
The contractor may claim direct loss and expense if the regular progress of the works has been materially affected by a 'Relevant Matter'. Relevant Matters at clause 4.24 include: CA instructions (variations, postponements, opening up for inspection where work proves compliant, discrepancy in documents); employer's failure to supply information in time; deferment of possession; and suspension for non-payment. Loss and expense is separate from EoT. A contractor can have one without the other.
Process and Ascertainment
JCT SBC 2024 clause 4.23; 4.25
The contractor must apply in writing as soon as it becomes apparent that loss and expense is being incurred. They must provide details and supporting documentation on request. The CA (with the QS) ascertains the amount of direct loss and expense. Direct loss and expense means actual financial loss directly caused by the Relevant Matter. It does not include loss of profit on other contracts, unless specifically recoverable at common law.
Disputed EoT and simultaneous loss and expense claim
Scenario
You are CA on a JCT SBC/Q 2024 office refurbishment. The contractor is 8 weeks past the contractual Completion Date. They have submitted an EoT claim citing three grounds: (1) a late CA instruction changing the M&E layout (variation); (2) exceptionally adverse weather in January; (3) late delivery of the employer's specialist AV equipment. The contractor has also submitted a loss and expense claim for prolongation costs of £85,000. The employer wants to deduct LADs at £5,000/week.
Analysis
Ground 1 (variation instruction): A CA instruction is both a Relevant Event (clause 2.29.1) and a Relevant Matter (clause 4.24.1). The contractor has entitlement to both EoT and loss and expense for this ground, subject to proving causal delay and quantified loss. Ground 2 (adverse weather): Clause 2.29.9 lists 'exceptionally adverse weather conditions' as a Relevant Event. This is NOT a Relevant Matter, so the contractor gets EoT only, not loss and expense. The CA must assess whether January weather was 'exceptional' compared to the 10-year average for the location. Ground 3 (employer's AV equipment): Delay caused by the employer is a Relevant Event (clause 2.29.6) and arguably a Relevant Matter under clause 4.24.5 (failure to provide information/goods in time, if the contractor can show this caused disruption). The CA must assess whether the AV equipment was within the employer's obligation to supply and whether the delay was notified. For LADs: The CA must first issue a Non-Completion Certificate (clause 2.32.1). They must then assess the EoT claims before the employer deducts LADs. Deducting LADs before extending time for employer-caused delay could expose the employer to a claim. The CA should grant EoT for grounds 1 and 3 first, revise the Completion Date, and only then allow the employer to deduct LADs for the remaining unextended period.
Outcome
The CA grants an EoT of 4 weeks (covering the variation delay and employer AV delay). The revised Completion Date means LADs accrue only for the remaining 4 weeks of delay = £20,000. The CA ascertains loss and expense for grounds 1 and 3 only. The weather ground gives no loss and expense entitlement. The contractor's prolongation claim of £85,000 is partially ascertained at £40,000 for the 4-week Relevant Matter period.