CONTRACT DOCUMENTATION (IN CONSTRUCTION PROJECT)

Contract?

   Binding legal agreement that is enforceable in a court of law

Document ?

         Section 2 Interpretation Act 1948 & 1967

Means,

Any matter expressed or described upon any substance by means of letters, figures or marks, or by more than one of those means, intended to be used or which may be used for the purpose of recording that matter

The Importance:

1. For Consultant, such as Architect preparing “contract documentation” is part of his/her professional task, and the Employer shall pay for the work, e.g. 10% of the total fees

-   See Arkitek Tenggara Sdn. Bhd.  v. Mid Valley City Sdn. Bhd.

    [2007] 6 CLJ 93; Govt. of Sarawak v. Sami Mousawi [2000] 7 CLJ 228

2. Contract document as evidence

-          e.g. evidence for employment: Holiday Villages v. Mohd  Zaizam [2006] 2 LNS0812;  Chua Liong v. Lian Soon [2004] 8 CLJ117

3. Contract document may be used to determine the intention of parties: Quality Concrete v. Classic Ceiling [2005] 1 LNS 350; Sanwell v. Trans Resources   [2002] 3 CLJ 213; Ravindran v. TNB [1996] 2 CLJ 1060; Chase Perdana v. Pekeliling Triangle [2001] 1 LNS 18

4. To ascertain…

    Mode of payment, progress payment, etc

    Procorp Realty v. Sumpiles [2001] 8 CLJ 613;     Weduk (s) v. Jid Fu [1998] 1 LNS 290; Yu Mea v. Govt of Terengganu [1997] 4 CLJ Supp. 453

    (to ascertain whether A is an independent contractor or not)

5. The parties in dispute will refer to the contract documents to ascertain their entitlement (rights) Chin Well v. Sampath Kumar [2005] 4 CLJ 394

Who should be bound?

   To include subcontract:

Renofac v. Chase Perdana [2001] 5 CLJ 371

Contract Documents:

Consistencies between Documents

Contract (Terms and Conditions) in

Agreement v. Letter of Award (LA)

Ab. Malik, J. in Renofac v. Chase Perdana [2005] 5 CLJ 371

“Refer to LA (what LA stated)”

“I, not only must give the document its ordinary and plain meaning, but construct the contract document as a whole and to determine its nature without be bound, by the labels affixed on them”: Suriyati J. in Dr. Ang v June [1997] 5 CLJ 148

Is Contract Documents must be executed before commencement of works?

Depends to the real intention & practice

Asiatic Dev. v. Kaneson [1998] 1 LNS 294

But,
   If there is not formal contract document was signed by the parties,
“it is a trite law that in the absence of a formal document of contract, the nature of the contractual relationship between the parties may be ascertained through the correspondences between the parties and their conducts to see the parties intention to be bound by contract”: Abdul Aziz, J. in Kumpulan Liziz v. Pembinaan Ock [2003]  4 CLJ 709