Handover in Ireland
Look up the day an Irish building is handed over and you meet two names. Practical completion is the term of the standard private building contracts in which an architect administers the contract; substantial completion is the term of the government’s public works contracts. They describe the same moment in a project, when the client can take the building over, but they are reached in different ways, confirmed by different people and followed by differently named periods and documents. This page explains the difference in plain terms and shows how Fidrel records the date, whichever term your contract uses.
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Most guidance online is British, where practical completion is the norm, or American, where substantial completion appears under quite different contracts. Irish projects use both, depending on the client, so a guide from either country tells only half the story.
Two projects can both say the building was handed over on the same day, yet one contract made the hand-over depend on documents and warranties being delivered and the other did not. Teams moving between public and private work carry assumptions from one into the other.
The defects period, the inspection before it ends and the final documents are all counted from that one day. Getting the day wrong, or recording it under the wrong name, shifts every date that follows and every reminder set from it.
In the private forms, practical completion is the point at which the architect, as contract administrator, certifies that the works are complete for practical purposes. In general that means the building can be occupied and used, with only minor items outstanding that do not stand in the way of its use. The contractor hands the building over, under many contracts the client takes on insuring and securing it, and the defects liability period starts. What counts as minor, and which documents must be in place, depends on the contract’s wording and on the architect’s judgement, which is why the date is sometimes disputed.
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In the public works contracts, substantial completion is a defined term. Broadly, the works must be complete enough to be used for their purpose with only minor defects left, the required tests must have been passed, and the contractor must have handed over the documents the contract asks for, including the collateral warranties. The employer’s representative certifies the date and may list defects still to be put right. The Defects Period then runs from that date for the length the contract sets, ending in the Defects Certificate. Because the documents are part of the definition, a missing manual or warranty can hold up substantial completion in a way it would not under every private form.
Step 1
Read how your contract defines the completion it uses and what it ties to it, from the state of the works to the documents and warranties to be handed over, before you rely on any date.
Step 2
In Warranties & contracts, open Dates after handover. On every Irish project the date field is labelled Practical completion; enter the date on the certificate under your contract, including the date of substantial completion on a public works job.
Step 3
Fidrel proposes the end-of-defects inspection at 11 months, the end of the defects liability period at 12 and the final list of defects at 13, each labelled Common practice or Under the contract. Change any figure to match your contract.
Step 4
Add the dates, and each becomes an entry in Warranties & contracts with a reminder before it falls due, so the end of the period is not discovered after it has already passed.
The differences come down to five questions. Who certifies: the architect under the private forms, the employer’s representative under the public works contracts. What the test is: practical completeness for use under the private forms, a defined list of conditions including documents and warranties under the public works contracts. What follows: a defects liability period ending in a final certificate under many private forms, a Defects Period ending in the Defects Certificate under the public works contracts. Which documents matter: the handover file may be expected under a private form but is written into the definition under the public works contracts. And what to call it on site: whatever your contract calls it, because the defined term is the one that carries the consequences.
Fidrel keeps one date for the hand-over and counts the following periods from it. On every project created on the Irish site the field in Dates after handover is labelled Practical completion, also on public works projects, where the date to enter is the date of substantial completion on the certificate. The three proposed dates are the end-of-defects inspection at 11 months, labelled Common practice, and the end of the defects liability period at 12 months and the final list of defects at 13, both labelled Under the contract. Each figure can be set from 1 to 240 months, an unticked line is skipped, and Fidrel shows the resulting date beside each line before anything is added.
Where the contract makes documents a condition of completion, the handover checklist is where they are tracked. The Irish template has lines for as-built drawings, O&M manuals, commissioning records, electrical, gas and lift certificates, warranties and guarantees, the safety file and the Certificate of Compliance on Completion with its ancillary certificates, and a snag list under Completion and sign-off. Lines the template lacks, such as collateral warranties, are added with New item. Each line moves from Outstanding to Submitted and Approved, with who approved it and when, so the employer’s representative or the architect can see before the inspection which documents are still missing.
Fidrel issues no certificate of practical or substantial completion and makes no judgement on whether the works are complete. The date field is labelled Practical completion on every Irish project, including public works projects that use substantial completion. The periods are starting values to check against your own contract, and Fidrel gives no legal advice on what either term means in it.
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Read moreHandover in Ireland
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Talk to usThey mark the same moment, when the client can take the building over, but they come from different contracts. Practical completion is the private forms’ term; substantial completion is the public works contracts’ defined term, with its own list of conditions.
The employer’s representative, under the public works contracts. On a private project it is usually the architect, acting as contract administrator, who certifies practical completion.
Under the public works contracts they can, because handing over the documents the contract lists, including collateral warranties, is part of the definition. Check the exact wording in your own contract.
The date of substantial completion given on the certificate. The field keeps the name Practical completion on every Irish project, and the periods that follow are counted from whatever day you enter there.
Under both families of contract it generally runs from the completion date, for the length the contract sets. Fidrel proposes 12 months as a starting value, and you change it to match.
No. The architect or the employer’s representative certifies completion under the contract. Fidrel holds the date and the documents, and reminds you of the dates that follow it.
