GROUP 6

CE 312- CE Laws, Ethics and Contracts

LEANNAH

CONTRACT-WRITING AND SPECIFICATION

CHARACTERISTICS OF WRITING CONTRACT

A simple contract is an agreement made by two parties. This agreement can be

an oral or a written one. There must be an offer, consideration, and an
acceptance to make it valid. Even if the document is not drafted by a lawyer, it
can still land you in court in the case of a breach of the contract. It’s advisable
to have a written contract rather than a verbal one.

 Offer and Acceptance: The offeror is the party who makes the

offer and the offeree is the person that receives the offer. This
contract can be made in the name of a business, a sole proprietor,
or a limited liability partnership.

 Consideration: This is the value given by one party to another in

exchange for a service or product, often money. It’s one of the most
important aspects of a contract, and without consideration people
generally don’t enter into a binding agreement.

 Capacity to enter into a contract: Both parties should be

capable of consent, otherwise the contract will be void. Parties to
the contract must be 18 years old or over, of sound or stable mind,
not under the influence of drugs or alcohol, and not incarcerated.

 Terms: As mentioned, a written contract is highly recommended.

In the case of a breach, you have a physical copy, and the suffering
party will be protected. A simple contract must include the terms
and conditions that each party must abide by. It should include
details regarding services, money, dates, timeframes, and all
clauses. For example, in an agreement between a tenant and a
landlord the tenant pays the landlord a certain amount of money
over a fixed period while the landlord provides the property for the
tenant to live in.
  Breach of contract: This occurs when one party defaults on their
part of the agreement. If one of the parties does not follow the
terms, then the other party can sue them for damages. With
enough evidence, a judge can award compensation to the injured
party. Having a written contract makes resolving disputes much
easier; if the situation does escalate into a lawsuit, the terms of the
agreement (and what constitutes a breach) are clearly laid out. If
it’s just a verbal agreement, it becomes a matter of one party’s
word against another, which is much more difficult to prove in
court.

 Contract Termination: A contract may be ended for many

reasons:

 Both parties perform their obligations.

 Because of natural calamities.
 By mutual consent from both parties.
 By frustration: if one of the parties dies or gets prolonged
sickness and become unable to fulfill their end of the
agreement.
 For small matters, many people don’t like to get tied up in
legal contracts. But always try to get a detailed, dated, and
signed simple contract when it’s beneficial to both parties.

Lakhia, U. (September, 2018). Characteristics of a Simple Contract. Retrieved

from http://dbpcstaffing.com/blog/characteristics-of-a-simple-
contract/#:~:text=A%20simple%20contract%20is%20an,acceptance%20to
%20make%20it%20valid.

GUIDELINES IN CONTRACT WRITING

Writing a contract can be intimidating. Contracts are serious legal documents,

and many people are afraid they’ll leave out something important or misword
their contracts, leaving them unprotected. To make sure you’ve got the basics
of your contract covered, here are the essentials that a contract should include:

 Who the parties to the contract are and their correct legal names. For
example, if you’re working with a freelance web designer who has
incorporated her business, you’ll likely specify her business name, not
her personally, as a party to the contract.
  The rights and obligations of each party in detail. For example, the web
designer must deliver a fully functional website, but if you don’t pay
them, they have the right to pull down the website.

 What the payment terms and requirements are, such as paying by wire
transfer within 30 days of delivery of the website.

 How and why the contract can be terminated, like if the website designer
misses too many deadlines, you can back out without owing them any
more money by sending them a letter via certified mail.

 How disputes will be resolved, such as in small claims court or by

binding arbitration.

 What state law will govern the contract, such as your home state. This
can also apply if you have to bring a lawsuit relating to the contract.

 Who will be liable if a dispute arises. Also known as an indemnity clause,

this contract provision basically states which party will have to pay legal
fees if there’s a problem, e.g., if you have to sue the web designer and
you win the lawsuit, they would have to pay your legal fees and court
costs.

These clauses don’t have to be in fancy legalese. In fact, as long as the contract
lays out the terms and conditions of your agreement clearly, you can skip all
the “heretofore” and “party of the first part” lingo.

Many people who write their own contracts use plain English and keep the
clauses short and to the point. To make your contracts more readable, use
simple paragraph headings like “Choice of Venue” and short sentences.

McCoulough, J. (January, 2020). How to Write Contact: All you Need to Know
About Contact. Retrieved from https://www.jotform.com/how-to-write-a-
contract/

ANGELO

ESSENTIAL REQUISITES OF CONTRACT

Article 1318

There is no contract unless the following requisites concur:

1.) Consent of the contracting parties- meeting of the minds of the two parties;

2) Object certain which is the subject matter of the contract- must be definite
and certain (ex. Land, or house etc);

3) Cause of the obligation which is established- compelling reason in the

performance of the contract or why a party assumes an obligation

Article 1319

Consent is manifested by the meeting of the offer and the acceptance upon the
thing and the cause which are to constitute the contract. The offer must be
certain and the acceptance absolute. A qualified acceptance constitutes a
counter-offer.

Acceptance made by letter or telegram does not bind the offerer except from the
time it came to his knowledge. The contract, in such a case, is presumed to
have been entered into in the place where the offer was made.

Article 1320

An acceptance may be express or implied.

Forms of Acceptance

Acceptance may be:

Express (art.1320)

Implied (art. 1320) from conduct, or acceptance of unsolicited services.

Presumed ( by law) as when there is failure to repudiate hereditary rights

within the period fixed by law ( See Art. 1057, Civil Code); or when there is
SILENCE in certain specific cases as would tend to mislead the other party,
and thus place the silent person in estoppel.

Examples of Implied Acceptance

An offer by the Army to reward persons giving information that would lead to
the apprehension of certain Huks may be considered implicitly accepted when
the act referred to it is performed by members of the public.

In the same way, participation in a contest, with full compliance of its rules, is
implied acceptance of the offer. Thus, on one occasion, the Supreme Court has
said that “due to the fact that the bank started, and advertised the contest
offering prizes, under certain conditions and the plaintiff prepared, by labor
and expense, and took part in said contest, the bank is bound to comply with
its promise made in the rules and conditions prepared and advertised by it.”

KENNETH

SPECIFICATION

For writing specifications for construction contracts, care must be taken to

ensure consistency of requirements throughout and conformity with what is
written in other documents.

This consistency can be promoted if one person drafts all the documents or, if
parts are written by others, one person carefully reads through the whole
finished set of documents. An inconsistency in the documents can give rise to a
major dispute under the contract, having a serious effect on its financial
outcome.

MEANING AND REQUISITE IN PREPARING SPECIFICATION

Specifications define the quality of any construction work. Therefore,

specifications should be clear. Language for specifications should be such that
no chance of ambiguity lefts. Specifications are the important part of contract
and it has legal value. In case of any dispute, one can even consult with court. 
Most of disputes occur, only because of not properly explained specifications.
Therefore, following principles of specifications should be considered while
writing that prevent conflict and ambiguities.

1.       Description of Material

It is very important to write in detail about the construction material. Type and
size of construction material should be clearly mentioned. Besides this,
ingredient ratio and mixing method of concrete and mortar should also be
clearly defined. If treatment of any material required before use, then it should
be mentioned in specifications.

2.       Workmanship

Workmanship covers the method of construction, inspection of work, surface

preparation, surface compaction and curing. Procedure of every single item
should be mentioned in detail.
3. Tools and Plants

Different equipment, tools and plants required during construction should be

clearly mentioned in specifications. Arrangement of machinery before
construction is only possible, if it is mentioned in specifications. It should also
be mentioned that either contractor has to arrange on its own or client will
arrange equipment for the contractor.

4.       New Work Protection

It should be clearly mentioned that how new work will be protected from rain
water, temperature, freezing and other atmospheric changes. New work
includes excavation, brick masonry, concrete pouring, plaster etc…

5.        Expression

Expressions should be very clear. Specifications have legal value, therefore

sentences should be short and complete. For conveying complex information,
short sentences should be used. It break up information into smaller and
easier to process units. Long complicated sentences can confuse reader and
doubtful the main point. Every single paragraph should only be limited to only
one issue.

Vocabulary should be such that it not creates a dual meaning. It should be

such that every reader grasps the same meaning. Language, format and usage
should be consistent. Beside this, specifications must also be consistently
enforced. Specifications only remain effective, if it is consistently enforced.
Without it even well written specifications become ineffective.

6.       Clauses of Specifications

Clauses of specifications should be written in ascending order, in short follow

the construction schedule. First thing come first. For Example: Clauses related
to excavation should come before foundation or footing related clauses.

Afsar, J. (November, 2014). Basic Principles of Writing Specifications. Retrieved

from https://www.engineeringintro.com/construction-works/basic-principles-of-
writing-specifications/
ADRIANO

GUIDELINES IN WRITING SPECIFICATION

 The layout and grouping of subjects should be logical. These need

planning out beforehand.

 Requirements for each subject should be stated clearly, in logical order,

and checked to see all aspects are covered.

 Language and punctuation should be checked to see they cannot give

rise to ambiguity.

 Legal terms and phrases should not be used.

 To define obligations the words ‘shall’ or ‘must’ (not ‘should’ or ‘is to’,
etc.) should be used.

 Quality must be precisely defined, not described as ‘best’, etc.

 Brevity should be sought by keeping to essential matters.

It is not easy to achieve an error-free specification. It is of considerable

assistance to copy model clauses that, by use and modification over many
previous contracts, have proved satisfactory in their wording.

Such model clauses can be held on computer files so they are easy to
reproduce and modify to make relevant to the particular project in hand.

Copying whole texts from a previous specification which can result in

contradictory requirements should not be adopted. Entirely new material is
quite difficult to write and will almost certainly require more than one attempt
to get it satisfactory.

The construction specification has to tell the contractor precisely:

 The extent of the work to be carried out

 The quality and type of materials and workmanship required.
 Where necessary, the methods he is required to use, or may not use, to
construct the works.
The Constructor (n.d.). How to Write Construction Specifications for Contract
Documents?. Retrieved from https://theconstructor.org/construction/writing-
construction-specifications-contracts/6370

CHONA

BIDDING CONDITIONS AND REQUIREMENTS

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