| 4.1 | This is a building contract in which the total price payable for the Building Work is not fixed, specified, or known at the time of
 entering into the Contract. Instead, the progress payments and the
 Final Contract Price are to be calculated by reference to the actual
 costs incurred by the Builder in carrying out the Building Work, plus a
 Margin for the Builder’s Off-site Overheads and profit. The Parties may
 have chosen to enter into this form of building contract for any number
 of reasons, including that it is too difficult for the Builder and/or
 the Owner to accurately predict the precise scope of the Building Work
 at the outset, or the Building Work involves innovative systems or
 materials the cost of which is largely unknown, or to avoid the
 administrative burden of having to recalculate a fixed contract price
 each time a component of the work changes, or simply because it is
 their preference to do so. While this inevitably involves some
 uncertainty as to what the Final Contract Price will eventually amount
 to, it has the advantage that at the conclusion of the Building Work
 the Owner will have become liable to pay no more and no less than the
 value of the Building Work and materials the Owner has actually
 received.
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| 4.2 | The progress payments and the Final Contract Price payable to the Builder shall therefore be calculated by reference to the hours of work
 expended by the Builder and the Builder’s employees and contractors in
 carrying out the Building Work, plus the materials and other direct
 costs incurred by the Builder in carrying out the Building Work, using
 the rates set out in Part F of the Schedule. Onto those amounts shall
 then be added the Margins for the Builder’s Off-site Overheads and
 profit, calculated by reference to the percentages shown in Part F of
 the Schedule.
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| 4.3 | The Builder shall be entitled to charge for and recover all costs that the Builder would not have incurred but for the Building Work, and
 that are reasonably necessary to carry out the Building Work to the
 standard required by this Contract, plus the relevant Builder’s
 Margins. Those costs include (without limitation):
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|  | a. | The Builder’s own labour and labour performed by the Builder’s employees and contractors.
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|  | b. | Products or services from subcontractors or specialist trades. | 
|  | c. | Professional advice such as architecture and engineering. | 
|  | d. | Building materials and consumables. | 
|  | e. | Hireage of tools, plant, equipment, appliances or vehicles. | 
| 4.4 | The cost of labour shall be calculated using the labour rates set out in Part F of the Schedule, or where no rates have been
 specified in any particular case, at the prevailing market rates for
 the personnel in question. The labour rates set out in Part F of the
 Schedule apply to normal working hours and days, and in calculating
 working hours no deduction shall be made for work breaks that are
 reasonably necessary for the consumption of food or beverages or to
 ensure the continued health, safety, productivity and efficiency of
 the relevant personnel. Where in order to comply with the Builder’s
 obligations under this Contract it is reasonably necessary for the
 Builder and/or the Builder’s employees and subcontractors to carry
 out Building Work outside of normal working hours or on weekends or
 public holidays, and the Builder is required to pay penal or
 overtime rates as a result, those penal or overtime rates shall be
 included in the calculation of the cost of the Building Work.
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| 4.5 | All the costs of the Building Work apart from labour shall be calculated by reference to the invoice issued to the Builder for the
 relevant item, or if no invoice was issued, by reference to what the
 Builder actually paid. Where such costs cannot be separately identified
 or accurately ascertained through timesheets, invoices or otherwise,
 the cost of those items shall be calculated having regard to the
 prevailing market price for the relevant items.
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| 4.6 | The rates set out in Part F of the Schedule shall be adjusted for any increase in the rates charged by subcontractors that could not
 reasonably have been foreseen by the Builder at the time this Contract
 is signed by the Builder, and which would otherwise have the effect of
 eroding the Builder’s profit margin. The Builder must be able to
 substantiate the increase by reference to written evidence such as
 quotations, communications or invoices from the relevant subcontractor,
 clearly demonstrating the rates that were first advised to the Builder
 when Part F of the Schedule was completed, and the rates subsequently
 charged. The Builder shall whenever reasonably practicable, resist any
 rate increases and procure subcontracts on the basis of fixed rates
 that cannot be increased during the course of the Building Work.
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| 4.7 | If any of the subcontractor rates set out in Part F of the Schedule decrease for any reason (other than rebates or discounts provided to
 the Builder as a result of such factors as loyalty, volume of business,
 enticement to form a new or long term trading relationship, or
 membership of a trade association or cooperative company), the
 decreased rate(s) shall be used in the calculation of all progress
 payments and the Final Contract Price from the time that the decrease
 takes effect.
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| 4.8 | Either prior or subsequent to the Parties entering into this Contract, the Builder may have given or may give to the Owner or the
 Owner’s representative(s) an estimate, indication, projection, guess,
 intimation, prediction or similar communication (together referred to
 as an “estimate”) as to what the Final Contract Price or any component
 of it is likely to turn out to be. It is common for building owners to
 request an estimate and it is common for builders, in good faith and
 out of a desire to be helpful, to comply with that request, or indeed
 to offer an estimate unsolicited. The Parties acknowledge that even the
 most carefully calculated estimate can in hindsight prove to be grossly
 pessimistic or optimistic, and it is impossible for the Builder to
 accurately predict what the final outcome of the Project will be, given
 that so many factors are outside the Builder’s control.
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| 4.9 | The Parties have chosen this form of contract rather than a fixed price contract because they have agreed that the Final Contract Price
 will be determined by the hours of work and the materials and other
 direct costs that are ultimately involved, and the margin applied to
 those items. By definition, those hours and those costs cannot be known
 in advance. The Parties therefore expressly record that any such
 estimate that may have been or may be provided by the Builder –
 assuming the Builder used the term “estimate” or some reasonably
 equivalent expression – shall only represent the Builder’s best guess,
 based on the Builder’s experience and what the Builder knows about the
 Project itself to date. The Builder agrees to take reasonable care in
 calculating any estimate that may be given, and to keep the Owner
 regularly informed, by the provision of periodic invoices or otherwise,
 of the amount paid and payable to the Builder in respect of the
 Building Work at any given time.
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| 4.10 | A price estimate is fundamentally different from an undertaking, promise, commitment, statement, assurance, warranty or representation
 (together referred to as a “representation”) that the total contract
 price will amount to, or will not exceed, a stated or fixed sum. If
 the Builder has given such a representation, then that will bind the
 Builder in accordance with its terms. However the representation must
 be reasonably inferred from the wording used. For example if either of
 the Parties has, without full knowledge of the legal significance,
 mistakenly described an estimate as a “quote” or used some other
 wording that might suggest a representation that would be enforceable
 in law, then that will not constitute a representation if the Parties
 did not intend it to have that effect.
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