Construction Contracts and Law in Canada
The law construction managers use every day in Canada: legal systems and sources of law, contract formation and interpretation, tendering law from Ron Engineering to Tercon, CCDC and CCA standard forms, payment and holdback, prompt payment and adjudication, construction liens, trusts and bonds, changes, delay and liquidated damages, termination and frustration, negligence, design liability and limitation periods, and dispute resolution, ending with a subcontract payment dispute.
CON-220 Year 2 3 credits 12 lessons · 5 h 45 min
Offered by HSM University · Construction Management
This is the Canadian version of this course. See the American version.
What you'll learn
- Explain the sources of Canadian construction law, the common law and civil law traditions, and the division of powers that makes liens, prompt payment and contracts provincial
- Identify when a binding contract has been formed, distinguish express and implied terms, interpret contract documents, and calculate damages for breach
- Apply the Contract A and Contract B framework, the rules on compliant bids, privilege clauses and bid mistakes, and the Tercon test for exclusion clauses
- Describe the CCDC and CCA family of standard forms, navigate CCDC 2-2020, and review supplementary conditions and subcontract flow-down for shifted risk
- Prepare and review payment applications, calculate holdback, apply the substantial performance formula and explain annual and final holdback release
- Build prompt payment calendars, use notices of non-payment and adjudication, and assess pay-when-paid and pay-if-paid clauses against provincial and federal statutes
- Preserve and perfect construction liens, apply holdback limits on owner liability, use statutory trusts, and claim on labour and material payment bonds within their deadlines
- Recognize changes, constructive changes and cardinal changes, document field directions, price change orders with markup and time-related costs, and give notice of differing site conditions
- Classify delays, write effective delay notices, calculate liquidated damages, and apply the rules on concurrent delay, acceleration, disruption and head office overhead
- Choose and follow the correct route to end or pause a contract, including default with notice and cure, repudiation, convenience, suspension, frustration and force majeure
- Apply the law of negligence, pure economic loss and design professional liability, distinguish design and performance specifications, and calculate limitation deadlines
- Compare dispute resolution methods, estimate the expected value of a claim, and analyse and act on a subcontract payment dispute from contract terms, statutes and records
Course content
12 lessons · 5 h 45 min total · final exam
- 1 Law for construction managers: legal systems and sources of law 27 min · quiz
- 2 Contract law basics: formation, terms and interpretation 27 min · quiz
- 3 Tendering, bidding and procurement law 27 min · quiz
- 4 CCDC and CCA standard form contracts 29 min · quiz
- 5 Payment applications and holdback 28 min · quiz
- 6 Prompt payment and adjudication 31 min · quiz
- 7 Construction liens, trusts and payment bonds 28 min · quiz
- 8 Changes, extras and pricing 28 min · quiz
- 9 Delay, disruption and time extensions 32 min · quiz
- 10 Termination, suspension and frustration 27 min · quiz
- 11 Negligence, professional liability, warranties and limitation periods 27 min · quiz
- 12 Dispute resolution and capstone: a subcontract and payment dispute 34 min · quiz
- E Final exam 20 questions
Requirements
Recommended background. You can start any course at any time.
Description
The law construction managers use every day in Canada: legal systems and sources of law, contract formation and interpretation, tendering law from Ron Engineering to Tercon, CCDC and CCA standard forms, payment and holdback, prompt payment and adjudication, construction liens, trusts and bonds, changes, delay and liquidated damages, termination and frustration, negligence, design liability and limitation periods, and dispute resolution, ending with a subcontract payment dispute.
Part of the Construction Management stream, typically taken in year 2.