Clear terms for quoted civil work.

1. Contract documents and priority

The contract consists of the accepted quote or signed agreement, its schedules, the agreed drawings and specifications, written clarifications, these standard terms, and later written variations. If documents conflict, the more specific and more recently agreed project document applies, except that mandatory law always prevails.

Headings and website summaries assist reading but do not change the agreed scope. “Pidgeon” means Pidgeon Contracting Ltd. “Client” means the person or entity identified in the accepted quote or agreement.

2. Formation and acceptance

A contract is formed only when the parties agree the relevant written quote, purchase order or contract by the acceptance method stated in that document. Starting preliminary discussions, arranging a site visit or allowing site access does not by itself override a legal requirement for a written contract or prescribed pre-contract information.

The person accepting for the Client confirms that they have authority to do so. Pidgeon may withdraw or revise a quote before acceptance if its stated validity period has expired or a material pricing assumption changes.

3. Quote, scope, GST and pricing basis

The quote covers only the written scope and records whether the price is fixed, measured, cost-reimbursable, provisional or based on stated rates. Unless the quote says otherwise, prices exclude GST and GST is added at the applicable rate.

• Quantities, provisional sums and allowances are adjusted using the measurement or pricing method stated in the contract.
• Client-supplied drawings, dimensions, levels and specifications are pricing information, not a guarantee by Pidgeon that the design is complete or suitable.
• Exclusions and assumptions must be read with the scope; neither party should rely on an oral change that has not been recorded.

4. Client information, decisions and access

The Client must provide information reasonably required for the work, including the correct site, legal site contact, available drawings and approvals, known hazards and services, access restrictions, operating constraints and decisions that the agreed programme depends on.

The Client must provide lawful, safe and reasonably continuous access for the agreed work and identify any restrictions on hours, noise, neighbours, occupants, livestock, vehicles or existing operations. Allocating a task to the Client does not transfer a statutory duty that legally remains with Pidgeon.

5. Design, consents, approvals and residential work

The quote must identify who is responsible for design, engineering, building or resource consents, vehicle-crossing approvals, corridor access, traffic management and inspections. Pidgeon is responsible only for approval work expressly included in its scope, but will comply with legal duties that apply to the work it controls.

If the project is residential building work to which Part 4A of the Building Act 2004 applies, the required disclosure information and checklist must be provided before contracting, and work at or above the prescribed price must use a compliant written residential building contract. These website terms are supplementary and are not that prescribed contract.

6. Underground services and physical site conditions

The Client must provide available service plans, as-built information and details of known private services. The parties must agree who will arrange locating, marking, proving, protecting or relocating affected services. Ground disturbance will proceed only when the reasonably required controls are in place.

Rock, unsuitable or contaminated material, groundwater, undocumented structures, incorrect service records, unexpected archaeology and other concealed conditions that could not reasonably have been allowed for may change the work method, price and programme. Nothing in this clause excuses a failure to take reasonable care or comply with health and safety law.

7. Variations and emergency work

A variation is a documented change to the agreed work, quantity, quality, sequence, access, design or responsibility. Before varied work begins, the parties should record the reason, changed scope, price or pricing method, programme effect and any required approval.

Pidgeon may take proportionate action without prior approval only where immediate work is reasonably necessary to protect people, property, completed work or the environment, or to comply with a lawful direction. Pidgeon must notify the Client as soon as reasonably practicable, explain the action and provide the available cost and programme information. This does not create an unrestricted right to vary the contract unilaterally.

8. Programme, delay and extension of time

Start and completion dates are estimates unless the contract expressly makes them fixed. A party affected by a likely delay must notify the other party promptly, describe the cause and expected effect, and take reasonable steps to reduce avoidable delay.

A reasonable adjustment to time and demonstrable cost may apply for Client changes or late decisions, restricted access, authority delay, qualifying weather, unexpected site conditions, supply disruption that was not reasonably avoidable, emergency response or another event beyond the affected party’s reasonable control. Pidgeon is not entitled to an extension for delay caused by its own failure to plan or perform with reasonable care.

9. Materials, plant and subcontractors

Pidgeon may use suitable subcontractors and suppliers unless the contract requires prior approval or names a specific provider. Pidgeon remains responsible for its contractual obligations to the extent required by the contract and law.

Specified products may be substituted only with Client approval where the substitute materially affects appearance, performance, maintenance or price, except for an immaterial equivalent expressly permitted by the specification. Manufacturer warranties are passed on where available and applicable.

10. Payment claims, schedules and overdue amounts

The payment stages, due dates and pricing method are those in the accepted contract. Pidgeon may serve payment claims under the Construction Contracts Act 2002. A payer disputing a payment claim must provide a valid payment schedule within the contractual or statutory time and pay the scheduled amount when due.

Nothing in the contract excludes the Construction Contracts Act, makes payment conditional on payment by another person, or removes statutory payment, suspension or adjudication rights. If no valid payment period has been agreed, the Act’s default provisions may apply.

Interest, administration fees or debt-recovery charges apply only where expressly included in the accepted written contract and enforceable by law. The Client remains responsible for reasonable, properly incurred recovery costs only to the extent agreed and legally recoverable. Any retention money arrangement must comply with the Act’s trust, account, record and reporting requirements.

11. Suspension and termination

Either party may exercise a statutory suspension or termination right. Pidgeon may also suspend affected work after reasonable written notice where the Client materially fails to provide safe access, required approvals, critical information or an undisputed payment, and does not remedy that failure within the notice period.

Immediate suspension is permitted where continuing would expose a person, property or the environment to an unacceptable risk. A suspension must be proportionate and must not be used to avoid the Construction Contracts Act process. On termination, the Client must pay for properly performed work, authorised materials, reasonable demobilisation and other amounts lawfully due, subject to any Client rights and set-offs that cannot be excluded.

12. Completion, inspection, defects and maintenance

Pidgeon will notify the Client when the agreed work or stage is ready for inspection or use. The Client should identify concerns promptly so they can be investigated, but a delay in notification does not remove any right that cannot lawfully be limited.

Pidgeon must have a reasonable opportunity to inspect and remedy work for which it is responsible. Aesthetic and material variation is assessed against the contract, approved samples, manufacturer requirements and recognised workmanship tolerances; it is not automatically defective or automatically acceptable.

Applicable Consumer Guarantees Act rights, Building Act implied warranties and residential defect-remedy obligations remain unaffected. The Client is responsible for agreed maintenance, drainage upkeep, loading restrictions, curing protection and care instructions after handover.

13. Health, safety and environmental controls

Each person conducting a business or undertaking retains its own duties under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015. Parties with overlapping duties must, so far as reasonably practicable, consult, cooperate and coordinate. No contract term transfers or contracts out of those duties.

The Client must communicate site hazards within its knowledge or control. Pidgeon controls its work methods and may stop or change the sequence of work where reasonably required for safety or environmental protection. Cost or time consequences are assessed under the variation and delay clauses, not assumed automatically.

Read the site Health & Safety information.

14. Insurance, care of the work and existing property

The project-specific contract must identify who arranges contract works, public liability and any other required insurance. Each party must take reasonable care of property within its possession or control and promptly notify the other of material damage or an event likely to give rise to a claim.

Pidgeon is not responsible for pre-existing damage or deterioration, or damage resulting from inaccurate information or undisclosed conditions, except to the extent caused or contributed to by Pidgeon’s breach, negligence or other legal responsibility.

15. Consumer rights, business transactions and fair terms

Nothing in these terms excludes the Consumer Guarantees Act 1993, Fair Trading Act 1986, Building Act 2004 or any other right or remedy that cannot lawfully be excluded or limited.

If both parties are in trade and wish to contract out of specified Consumer Guarantees Act or Fair Trading Act provisions, the project-specific written agreement must say so expressly and the statutory requirements—including that the supply and acquisition are in trade and the exclusion is fair and reasonable—must be satisfied. These website terms do not by themselves create that exclusion.

Terms are to be read consistently with the unfair-contract-term protections applying to standard-form consumer and qualifying small trade contracts.

16. Liability and recoverable loss

Each party is responsible for direct loss to the extent caused by its breach, negligence or other legal responsibility, subject to the contract and applicable law. Neither party is liable for remote or indirect loss that was not reasonably foreseeable, except where liability cannot lawfully be excluded.

Any project-specific liability cap, exclusion or indemnity applies only if it is clearly stated in the accepted written contract, is fair and reasonable in the circumstances, and is legally enforceable. No limitation applies to fraud, wilful misconduct, personal injury responsibility that cannot be limited, or another liability that law prohibits the parties from limiting.

17. Disputes, adjudication and urgent relief

A party raising a dispute should give written details and the available supporting documents. The parties should first refer the issue to people with authority to resolve it and may agree to mediation.

This process does not delay or prevent a payment claim, payment schedule, statutory suspension, adjudication under the Construction Contracts Act, an undisputed payment, or an application for urgent court relief. New Zealand law governs the contract and New Zealand courts have non-exclusive jurisdiction unless a signed project agreement lawfully provides otherwise.

18. Notices, privacy, assignment and updates

Contract notices must be sent using the addresses and methods stated in the project-specific agreement, subject to any mandatory statutory service rules. Personal information is handled for enquiry, contracting, delivery, safety, payment and legal purposes in accordance with the Privacy Statement.

Neither party may assign the contract without the other’s prior written consent, not to be unreasonably withheld, except where the signed agreement provides otherwise. A failure to enforce a term once is not a continuing waiver. If a term is unenforceable, it is read down or severed only to the minimum extent necessary.

Website updates apply to future contracts only. The dated version incorporated when the contract is accepted continues to apply unless the parties agree a change in writing.