Building a Construction Contract

NOTE-- We retired MacNail in 2000. and replaced it with Goldenseal-- a complete software package that handles construction spec writing, plus accounting, construction estimating, and project management, This manual is still online as a courtesy to die-hard MacNail users! A Goldenseal contract is built from a similar process, with Contract Clauses replacing stock clauses, and header and footer text coming from the Contract record, rather than a separate file.

Creating a Construction Contract

The MacNail construction management software builds a construction contract from several distinct parts, arranged sequentially, as shown in the diagram on the previous page. Each of the parts is optional.

Stock clauses can be added anywhere in the contract. They are short sentences that describe the project, and handle common conditions that may vary from job to job. Some of the stock clauses are fixed, and some can be modified by the user.

NOTE: Most stock clauses will be usually be placed at the beginning of the contract, although though they can be located anywhere in the contract, if you wish (see page 107).

Each contract or subcontract can include one or more Headers. A header is a simple text file that can be edited with any word processor. It is added near the beginning of the contract in the MacNail project management software .

The bulk of the contract is in Specifications, or specs. This is a listing of short clauses describing specific aspects of the project, as taken from an estimate (or from a file created from an estimate).

Near the end of the contract can be one or more Footers. These are text files identical to headers, except for their placement.