Which procurement route and building contract suit your project?

What this chooser is doing

It follows the order in JCT's practice note: the procurement route (the procurement method), then the type of contract, then the particular contract (the form of contract).

1. It decides the procurement route before it chooses a contract. JCT's practice note says the procurement method, which is how the work is designed, priced and contracted, and the type of contract are decided before the form of contract, the particular published contract (paragraph 2).
2. How complete the design is at tender weighs most. Traditional procurement, where your design team completes the design before contractors price it, needs full drawings and documents first, and a lump sum, one agreed price for the whole job, is only as realistic as the information behind it (paragraphs 9 and 24). With only an outline design, design and build, where the contractor completes the design, or two-stage tendering, where a contractor is chosen early and the price agreed in two stages, fits better.
3. Your priorities adjust the balance. JCT describes traditional procurement as giving reasonable certainty over cost, and leaving you in control of design and quality, over a relatively long time; design and build as relatively low risk to you on cost and time, with less control once the contract is signed; and management routes as leaving more of the risk on cost and time with you (paragraphs 9, 11 and 13).
4. Two-stage tendering uses an agreement for the contractor's work before construction starts. JCT's version, the Pre-Construction Services Agreement, is written for its Standard, Intermediate, Design and Build and Major Project contracts, not Minor Works, so the chooser only recommends two-stage tendering on larger projects (practice note, paragraphs 96 to 99).
5. The contract follows JCT's own chart for choosing one: its Home Owner contracts for someone who lives in the home, or intends to (HO/B without a consultant, HO/C with one); Minor Works for simple work; Intermediate where fairly detailed terms are needed; the Standard Building Contract for complex work; and Design and Build where the contractor completes the design. Other publishers' contracts are added as alternatives where they fit the client: the RIBA Domestic and Concise Building Contracts 2018, the contracts of the FMB (the Federation of Master Builders) and the NEC4 Engineering and Construction Short Contract.
6. If you live in the home, or intend to, the Construction Act's rules on payment notices and adjudication, a quick way of settling a dispute through an independent adjudicator, do not apply to your contract by law. JCT's Home Owner contracts still provide for adjudication, and its other contracts take account of the Act, so their payment and adjudication terms apply to you through the contract (practice note, paragraph 33). The law: Part II of the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996 does not apply to a contract principally relating to operations on a dwelling which one of the parties occupies, or intends to occupy, as a residence (section 106).
7. Editions and prices: JCT withdrew its 2016 edition on 31 March 2026, with a transition period to 31 December 2026; the 2021 Home Owner contracts remain current. JCT prices are from JCT's 2026 price list, excluding VAT, and the NEC price from its publisher's page in September 2026.
8. The contract administrator. Apart from some contracts for smaller works, such as HO/B, JCT's traditional contracts require you, as the client, to appoint a contract administrator, the consultant who administers the building contract; its Design and Build contract does not provide for an independent contract administrator (paragraphs 30, 52 and 73). JCT's contracts give the role a name that includes a protected professional title; this site calls it the contract administrator throughout.