The contractor stopped showing up. The site is half-finished — a fit-out, a refurbishment, a commercial build, a major install. They cite delays getting paid (which they have been), supplier problems (which they manufactured), or simply stopped responding. Your tenancy commencement, opening date, customer commitments and finance schedule are all built on a completion date that is now slipping by the week.
Abandonment is breach. But before you lawfully engage another contractor and claim the cost difference, the contract typically requires you to issue a Notice to Remedy Breach giving the contractor a defined opportunity to return and complete. Skip this step and the contractor — or their lawyer — can characterise your replacement decision as wrongful termination.
The legal context
Most commercial construction contracts (formal contracts, AS 4000 series, AS 2124, bespoke fit-out agreements) include termination-for-default provisions requiring a written notice specifying the breach and a defined cure period — commonly 7 to 14 days. Where the contractor fails to remedy, you can terminate and call on security, retention or performance bond, and recover damages including the cost of completion, delay costs, and consequential losses. The Security of Payment regimes in each state and the relevant Building Acts also intersect with these processes.
Common pushbacks and why they fail
- “You have not paid the latest claim.” Disputed payment claims have their own process; they do not justify abandonment of works that have been certified.
- “Variations are unresolved.” Variations are negotiated in parallel; they do not pause the base contract.
- “Subcontractor failure.” The head contractor’s supply chain is the head contractor’s problem.
- “Delays are excusable.” EOT claims must be lodged in accordance with the contract; informal grumbling is not an EOT.
The document and what it does
A Notice to Remedy Breach references the contract, the abandonment or non-performance, the cure required (return to site, defined progress milestones, demonstrated capacity to complete), the cure period, and the consequences — termination, calling of security, engagement of another contractor at the original contractor’s cost, and damages claim.
What Claim Done delivers
- The construction contract and progress history captured precisely
- Specific breach events documented
- Cure period drawn from the contract
- Reservation of termination, security, and damages remedies
- Drafted and sent on letterhead, flat $79
What to expect after
Many contractors return to site or engage in serious negotiation inside the cure period because the alternative — loss of the contract, calling of bond, and a damages claim — is materially worse. If they do not, you have a clean basis to terminate, engage another contractor, and recover the cost difference.