Main contractor or direct labour?
With a main contractor, one party owes you the whole job: one fixed-price building agreement (or an RIAI form if architect-administered), one defects period, one throat to choke. With direct labour, you save the contractor's margin but become the main contractor yourself: separate agreements with each trade, and the coordination risk — the plumber blaming the blocklayer's setting-out — lands on you. Neither is wrong. Both go wrong without paperwork matched to the structure.
Direct labour: the minimum paperwork
- A short written agreement or accepted quote with standing terms for every trade — even the two-day jobs (what trade terms cover)
- Sequenced scopes so gaps and overlaps between trades are yours by choice, not accident
- Insurance confirmed per trade — and self-build site insurance for you, since no main contractor's policy covers the site
- Payment per trade tied to completed work, with a simple retention on the bigger packages
- Safety file duties: on domestic projects, appointing competent duty-holders under the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (Construction) Regulations is the client's obligation, not folklore
The professionals' appointments matter too
Architects, engineers and quantity surveyors are engaged under contracts as consequential as the builder's: scope of services (design only, or inspection and certification?), fee basis, professional indemnity insurance, and who certifies stage payments for your mortgage drawdowns. On renovations, be precise about the survey scope — "we didn't open up that wall" is the classic gap between what you assumed and what was bought.
Renovating an occupied house
Add three things: phasing and habitability (which rooms, which weeks, what counts as "weather- tight"), daily working arrangements (hours, security, utilities, who holds keys), and a dust-and- damage protocol for the parts of the house not in scope. They sound domestic; they are the top three sources of renovation friction, and one paragraph each in the contract dissolves them.
How our fees work
You get a fixed quote in writing before any work starts — no hourly-rate surprises and no meter running while you think. If the scope changes, the quote is revised in writing before we continue. In contentious business, a solicitor may not calculate fees or other charges as a percentage or proportion of any award or settlement. How contract solicitor fees work in Ireland →
Frequently asked questions
Do I need separate contracts for every trade on a direct-labour build?
Yes — each trade is a separate contractor and a separate contract, even if it's one page plus standing terms. The alternative is a dozen oral contracts whose terms nobody can prove, coordinated by hope.
Can my mortgage lender require a particular contract?
Lenders commonly require stage certification by a qualified professional before drawdowns, and some require a fixed-price contract with a registered builder for certain products. Check the loan offer conditions before you settle the contract structure — retrofitting them mid-build is painful.
Who is responsible for site safety on a self-build?
The client has real statutory duties on construction projects, including appointing competent project supervisors for design and construction stages in most cases. On a self-build where you are the client, those duties are yours to discharge — take advice early rather than after an inspector calls.
Talk to a solicitor who reads contracts for a living. Call Mary Molloy Solicitors today.
Whether you are drafting terms for your business, handed a contract to sign, or unsure what a clause commits you to, an early conversation costs little and prevents a lot.
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richardoshea@marymolloysolicitors.com · Dublin: The Ormond Building, 31–36 Ormond Quay Upper, Dublin 7, D07 EE37 · Kilkenny: 2 Rose Inn Street, Kilkenny, R95 W58D
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