Table Of ContentPowell-Smith and Furmston’s
Building Contract Casebook
Powell-Smith and Furmston’s
Building Contract Casebook
Fifth Edition
Michael Furmston
TD, BCL, MA, LLM
A John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., Publication
This edition first published 2012
© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd
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First edition published 1984 by Granada Publishing
First edition (revised) published 1987 by BSP Professional Books
Second edition published 1990
Third edition published 2000 by Blackwell Science Ltd
Fourth edition published 2006 by Blackwell Publishing
Fifth edition published 2012 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Furmston, M. P.
Powell-Smith and Furmston’s building contract casebook / Michael Furmston.
– 5th ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-470-65592-4 (hard cover : alk. paper) 1. Construction
contracts–England–Cases. 2. Construction contracts–Wales–Cases.
I. Powell-Smith, Vincent. Powell-Smith and Furmston’s building contract casebook.
II. Title. III. Title: Powell-Smith and Furmston’s building contract
casebook. IV. Title: Building contract casebook.
KD1641.F87 2012
343.41'07869–dc23
2011035017
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print
may not be available in electronic books.
Set in 10/12.5 pt Minion by Toppan Best-set Premedia Limited
1 2012
Contents
Preface vii
PART I – FORMATION OF THE CONTRACT 1
1 Letters of Intent 3
2 Costs of Tendering 9
3 Tenders and Estimates 14
4 Incorporation of Documents 20
5 Completion of the Contract 43
PART II – PERFORMANCE OF THE CONTRACT 59
6 The Contractor’s Obligations 61
Design 61
Materials and workmanship 74
Progress and completion 92
Indemnities and insurance 95
7 The Employer’s Obligations 133
Possession of site 133
Time and extent of possession 133
Site conditions 137
Co-operation 142
Instructions 151
Payment 154
Lump sum contracts 155
Oth er contracts 158
Retention 159
Quantum meruit 162
Set-off 165
Miscellaneous 176
Nomination of sub-contractors and specialists 176
Objection to nominees 176
Displacement of implied terms 177
Form of sub-contracts 177
v
vi Contents
Effect of failure 177
Default in supply of goods 178
8 Ownership and Vesting of Materials 180
Materials and goods 180
Vesting clauses 185
9 Acceptance and Defects 187
10 Approval and Certificates 191
General 191
Nature and effect of certificates 204
Recovery without certificate 226
11 Variations 228
12 Damages for Breach of Construction Contracts 246
13 Prolongation and Disruption Claims 272
14 Liquidated Damages and Extensions of Time 319
Liquidated damages 319
Extensions of time 336
Interpretation of provisions 351
PART III – DISCHARGE OF THE CONTRACT 353
15 Release 355
16 Frustration 358
17 Illegality 365
18 Forfeiture Clauses, Repudiation and Determination 369
19 Limitation 388
The Limitation Act 1980 388
Latent Damage Act 1986 391
PART IV – SUB-CONTRACTS AND SUB-CONTRACTING 399
20 Assignment and Sub-letting 401
21 Domestic Sub-contractors 411
22 Nominated Sub-contractors 414
PART V – BUILDING CONTRACTS AND THE LAW OF TORT 441
23 Building Contracts and the Law of Tort 443
Table of Cases 467
Index 485
Preface
The last edition of this book appeared in 2005. The flow of new and interesting cases on Building
Contracts has continued unabated. I have tried to keep the book to the same length though a
change in typeface has actually meant a reduction in the number of pages. I have included 14
new cases and taken out altogether 8 cases as well as reducing somewhat the quotations from a
few other cases.
In the first four editions Julia Burden provided invaluable editorial support (while working
for three different publishers). Her successors at Wiley-Blackwell (as it now is) have been most
helpful. The support of Angie Choo Kum Woon in Singapore has been invaluable.
Michael Furmston
October 2011
vii
