Contract Documents

Conditions of Contract, Producer Statements and Consultancy Guidelines

IPENZ encourages all members to follow a recognised professional practice in communicating with clients on commercial matters (Code of Ethics, 2.10). To assist in this, IPENZ and the Association of Consulting Engineers (ACENZ) have developed some standard contractual documents for use by professional engineers in selling consulting services.

The standard document is called the Conditions of Contract for Consultancy Services (between the Commercial Client and Consultant for Professional Services), commonly called the "long form". This is generally used for larger engagements and a new booklet is used for each engagement.

For smaller engagements, single sheet "short form" documents are available. There are two types, commercial and domestic. Commercial is for use with contracts with commercial entities while domestic for contracts with private individuals such as homeowners. The difference in the two is that the Consumer Guarantees Act 1993 applies in the case of the Domestic form. The short forms come in pads of 50 sheets. Shortly, read only limited use discs will be available.

Complementing these is the booklet Guidelines for Consulting Engineering Services written for clients on the engagement of consultants. It explains some of the issues relating to the engaging a consulting engineer. It explains the rationale for the words used in the CCCS as well as covering issues such as fees and services. It is intended that a copy of this be given to clients. It is also useful for consultants, particularly those starting out in business.

To discuss use of the documents, contact The Engineering Practice Manager at IPENZ National Office: PracticeManager@ipenz.org.nz