House construction contract — घर निर्माण सम्झौता

What the rate covers. A rate per square foot means nothing until it says whether it includes materials, finishing, electrical and plumbing work, and the boundary wall.

Who supplies the materials. In a labour contract the owner buys them; in a full contract the contractor does. Write down which, and list any the owner supplies.

Payment by stage. Pay for work done, never ahead of it — an advance, then a share at the foundation, each slab, the walls and plaster, and handover. The template's stages are editable.

The completion date and the penalty for delay, with the reasons the date may move: the owner's own delay, a disaster, a government restriction.

Defects after handover. A defects period — commonly a year — in which the contractor repairs cracks and leaks at their own cost, and a share of the price held back until it ends.

ज्याला ठेक्का (labour only). The contractor brings the workers; the owner buys the materials. The owner controls quality and price of materials, and carries the work of buying and storing them.

सामग्रीसहित ठेक्का (labour and materials). The contractor supplies everything for one price. Simpler for the owner, and the place where quality is most often cut — so the grade and brand of cement, rods and bricks belong in the contract.

Many contracts are a mix. The form asks which, and lists what the owner supplies.

Your municipality must approve the building's drawing and issue a permit (नक्सा पास) before construction begins; what it asks for varies by municipality, so ask the ward or the municipality's engineering section. Put the permit number in the contract, and a clause that the contractor builds to that drawing.

For anything beyond a small single storey, an engineer who checks each stage before it is paid for is worth what they cost. The template's payment clause says a stage is paid once the owner or the owner's engineer has checked it.

The workers are the contractor's, and the National Civil (Code) Act's chapter on wages applies to them: wages as agreed or at the local rate (section 641), adequate safety measures (section 642), an eight-hour day unless the worker agrees to more and is paid for it (section 643), and work once taken on not left unfinished without good reason (section 645).

The template puts the workers' wages, hours, safety and any accident on the site with the contractor, and lets the owner finish an abandoned job through someone else at the contractor's cost.

1. Enter the owner and the contractor, with the contractor's firm and PAN if there is one.
2. Describe the site and the building: address, kitta number, building permit number, storeys, area and structure.
3. Say whether the price covers labour only or labour and materials, the rate per square foot or the lump sum, and the total.
4. Set the payment for each stage, the amount held back, the defects period, the start and completion dates and the delay penalty.
5. Add the witnesses and choose Nepali or English. Download it as a PDF, or as a Word file you can still edit. It is free, there is no sign-up, and nothing you type is uploaded.