This chapter contains section titled:

• How are practical completion and substantial completion under the JCT and ICE conditions defined?

• Where an employer takes possession of a building or engineering facility before all the work has been completed, can the contractor rightfully claim that practical completion or substantial completion has been achieved?

• When does practical completion occur under a subcontract where the DOM/1 conditions apply?

• Where at the end of the defects liability/maintenance period the architect/engineer draws up a defects list but due to an oversight omits certain defects and a second list is prepared after the defects on the first list have been completed, will the contractor/subcontractor be obliged to make them good?

• Is a contractor/subcontractor absolved from any liability if the employer refuses him access to make good defects because he chooses to make them good himself?

• Most subcontractors provide for the release of the final balance of retention only when the period included in the contract for correcting defects has expired and all defects under the main contract have been made good. If the main contractor or other subcontractors are dilatory in making good defects, is there any mechanism to enable the subcontractor to secure an early release of retention?

• Can an employer recover from the contractor the costs involved where it became necessary to employ an external expert to demonstrate that work was defective?

• Where a dispute arises between employer and contractor which includes defective work carried out by a subcontractor and is the subject of legal proceedings which are settled by the contractor making a payment to the employer, is the subcontractor obliged to reimburse the contractor for the cost of remedying defective work even though he considers the subcontract works contain no defects?