Construction industry lawyer in Paris

Because most site disputes are decided at the moment of signing. The contract fixes the nature of the price, the documents that describe the works, the penalties, the retention money, the conditions of termination and the way a change is to be validated. Once the works have begun, the contractor negotiates from a position of weakness, having already committed materials and labour.

A construction contract is a contract for hire of work within the meaning of the Civil Code (Article 1779 of the French Civil Code). Where the contractor has undertaken for a lump sum to build a structure to a plan agreed with the landowner, it cannot claim any increase for changes that the project owner has not authorised in writing, price included (Article 1793). The Court of Cassation applies this rigorously: it approved the refusal to pay a contractor for works that "were not of such a scale as to amount to an upheaval in the economics of the contract" (our translation) (Cass. 3e civ., 6 March 2025, No. 23-18.916), although they represented 13% of the contract. The court of appeal had relied on the contract's clauses and on the origin of the changes: this percentage is not a general threshold.

The firm reviews the draft contract or the contractor's general conditions, flags unbalanced clauses and proposes wording that leaves a written trace of every change. It also checks that the ten-year liability insurance does cover the packages of works on offer.

Everything depends on the nature of the price, not the name of the document: a quote can itself set a lump-sum price. Under a contract at unit prices or measured quantities, works actually ordered are paid according to the agreed schedule of rates, and the contractor must prove the order. Under a lump-sum contract, the project owner's written agreement to the change and to its price is the only safe route (Article 1793).

The Court of Cassation accepts that a lump sum is not a prison: "The parties may decide to depart from the lump sum under the conditions laid down in Article 1793 of the Civil Code" (our translation) (Cass. 3e civ., 5 January 2022, No. 20-14.615), and it approved a court of appeal for ordering a developer to pay for modification works decided by service order following a quote accepted in writing. The writing made the difference. The same judgment, however, sets aside the order to pay for a drainage channel accepted only tacitly: only an express and unequivocal agreement allows the extra to be invoiced, and unaccepted extra costs are compensated only where the project owner is at fault or the economics of the contract are upset.

The simplest practice is to send an additional quote before carrying out the work, and to start the works only after it has been signed or an acceptance email repeating the price has been received. A site meeting record that mentions the client's request, without a price, is not always enough. The firm can draft the model amendment and the internal procedure that the contractor will use on every project.

It can demand it at any time. The client under a private construction contract must provide the contractor with a payment guarantee above a threshold set by decree, in principle a joint and several guarantee from an authorised institution where it is not financing the operation with a specific loan (Article 1799-1 of the Civil Code). Failing a guarantee, and if works already carried out remain unpaid, the contractor may stop the works if its formal notice has had no result within fifteen days, under the same article.

The Court of Cassation states that "the project owner is bound to deliver a payment guarantee from the signing of the contract, which may be requested at any time, even after termination of the contract, as long as the price of the works has not been paid in full" (our translation) (Cass. 3e civ., 15 April 2021, No. 19-24.878). In that case, it overturned the court of appeal, which had held that there was no ground for an urgent application on the request for a guarantee, finding in particular that the contract had been terminated and the balance was seriously disputable.

The client cannot simply assert that it is acting privately: the burden of proof lies on it, the Court of Cassation having approved a court of appeal for holding that "the SCI did not prove, the burden of which lay on it, that the contract was intended to meet needs outside its professional activity" (our translation) (Cass. 3e civ., 24 April 2003, No. 01-13.439). The firm drafts the request for a guarantee and the formal notice, then applies to the urgent applications judge if necessary.

Not unconditionally. The Civil Code allows a party to refuse to perform its obligation where the other party has failed to perform its own and the failure is sufficiently serious (Article 1219 of the Civil Code). A single late payment, or a serious dispute over the quality of the works, may not be enough, and stopping the project would then turn against the contractor, who would itself be in default.

The safest basis remains the payment guarantee. Where the project owner has provided none and works already carried out remain unpaid, the law authorises stopping the works where the formal notice has had no result within fifteen days (Article 1799-1). The step is then regulated and dated.

In practice, the firm checks the amount actually due under the contract, the status of the client and whether a guarantee exists, then drafts the formal notice announcing the suspension. It advises having the state of the project recorded on the day work stops, so that the contractor is not later accused of having abandoned the works.

Under a lump-sum contract, the client may bring the contract to an end alone, even once the project has begun, by paying the contractor its expenses, the value of the work done and the profit it expected from it (Civil Code, Article 1794). This provision protects the contractor: the lost profit forms part of the compensation.

Two recent judgments limit its scope, to the contractor's detriment. The first recalls that "a party cannot claim performance of a terminated contract, but only damages compensating the loss caused by the wrongful termination" (our translation) (Cass. 3e civ., 26 June 2025, No. 23-23.942); the court of appeal that had awarded the whole expected profit without finding that the contract was a lump-sum one was overturned. The second, of 25 June 2026, holds that "the project owner's right to terminate a lump-sum contract unilaterally, provided for by Article 1794 of the Civil Code, does not deprive it of the possibility of terminating the contract under the conditions of ordinary law" (our translation) (Cass. 3e civ., 25 June 2026, No. 24-18.064). Delivered under former Article 1184 of the Civil Code, this judgment sets aside and remits without saying that the alleged grounds were established: the compensation under Article 1794 may be set aside if termination for non-performance is justified. Under current law, a project owner who terminates in this way must, except in urgent cases, give formal notice, notify its reasoned decision and, if challenged, prove the seriousness of the non-performance (Article 1226 of the Civil Code).

The value of the claim therefore depends on the nature of the price and on what the client alleges against the contractor. The firm reconstructs the expenses incurred, the works carried out and the expected margin, then answers point by point the complaints put forward to justify the termination.

Yes. A contractor that uses a subcontractor must have it accepted, and its payment terms approved, by the project owner, from signing and throughout the contract (Law No. 75-1334, Article 3). It must also guarantee the payments due to the subcontractor by a guarantee from an approved institution, unless the client itself pays the subcontractor by delegation, failing which the subcontract is null (Article 14).

The parties may organise the order of the formalities. The Court of Cassation accepts that "the parties to a subcontract may agree that it will be formed or take effect only from the date on which the subcontractor is accepted by the project owner and its payment terms approved by it" (our translation) (Cass. 3e civ., 30 April 2025, No. 23-19.086). In that case, a payment delegation or guarantee obtained on the date of acceptance rules out nullity, unless the subcontractor began its works before obtaining these guarantees.

The date of the first day on site then becomes decisive. The firm drafts the clause on when the contract takes effect, prepares the file presenting the subcontractor to the project owner and checks that the guarantee is issued before any work begins.

No, and the outcome is unfavourable to it. A subcontractor that has not been accepted, or whose payment terms have not been approved, may terminate the subcontract; one that has received neither a bank guarantee nor a compliant payment delegation may invoke its nullity, a regular delegation dispensing with the guarantee (Article 14 of Law No. 75-1334). If it does not exercise the remedy open to it, according to the Court of Cassation, "if the subcontractor does not use the right of unilateral termination open to it under Article 3 of the aforementioned law and does not invoke its nullity on the basis of Article 14 of the same law, the contract must be applied" (our translation) (Cass. 3e civ., 10 November 2021, No. 20-19.372).

In that case, the subcontractor had stopped work, relying on the absence of a valid guarantee. The court of appeal had held the termination later pronounced by the main contractor to be wrongful; its judgment was set aside, because the contract, neither terminated nor annulled, had to be applied. A subcontractor that suspends without using either of these two routes thus risks being accused of abandoning the works.

The firm helps the subcontractor choose: obtain the guarantee, terminate by a clear written notice if it has not been accepted, or seek nullity after weighing its financial consequences. It also assists the main contractor who wants to regularise the situation before it deteriorates.

Nullity wipes out the agreed price. The subcontractor is no longer paid under its contract, but it obtains restitution of the value of what it has carried out. According to the Court of Cassation, "where the annulled subcontract has been performed, the subcontractor's restitution claim corresponds to the actual cost of the works carried out, excluding those it carried out to remedy defects of its own making" (our translation) (Cass. 3e civ., 8 June 2023, No. 22-13.330). The cost of remedying its own defects therefore remains for its account.

Without annulment, the contract sets the ceiling. The Court of Cassation recalled this in a judgment unfavourable to the subcontractor: "a subcontractor whose contract has not been annulled cannot claim, as compensation for the cost of its works, any sums other than those provided for by the subcontract" (our translation) (Cass. 3e civ., 18 January 2024, No. 22-20.995). A subcontractor that considers its price insufficient therefore cannot obtain more by arguing in tort, unless it has the subcontract annulled.

The choice between performing the contract and nullity is therefore made with figures in hand. The firm compares the subcontract price with the actual cost supported by the accounting documents, deducts any remedial work and indicates the most favourable route, before any formal notice.

All those it actually carries out. Every builder exposed to ten-year liability must be insured and provide proof of this at the start of each project (Insurance Code (Code des assurances), Article L. 241-1). The liability in question is the builder's automatic liability for damage that compromises the structural soundness of the works or makes them unfit for their purpose (Article 1792 of the Civil Code).

The insurance contract covers only the declared activities. The Court of Cassation approved the decision that "as the activity of building a single-family house had not been declared, the claims for cover made by Mr X... had to be dismissed" (our translation) (Cass. 3e civ., 18 October 2018, No. 17-23.741), the contractor being insured only for standard-technique trades. The result, unfavourable to the project owner, deprives it of that insurer's cover for the works in question.

Before accepting a new package of works, the contractor therefore compares the exact wording of its insured activities with the works in the quote. The firm reviews the certificate and the special conditions of the policy, and flags the discrepancies to be corrected with the insurer before signing.

Because acceptance triggers almost everything that works in its favour. It is the act by which the project owner accepts the works, with or without snags noted, and either party may bring it about, by agreement or, failing agreement, before the judge (Article 1792-6 of the Civil Code). The contractor therefore does not have to wait on the client's goodwill.

Acceptance starts, at the same time, the one-year completion warranty, which covers defects noted in the acceptance report and those revealed afterwards and notified in writing, the two-year (at least) equipment warranty (Article 1792-3) and the ten-year period of ten-year liability (Article 1792-4-1). The contract often makes it a condition for payment of the balance. Retention money, which the law caps at 5% of interim payments and which the client places in escrow unless the contractor provides a bank guarantee (Law No. 71-584, Article 1), is released one year after acceptance, with or without snags, if the project owner has not served on the guarantor or the escrow holder a reasoned objection by registered letter (Article 2).

The firm drafts the notice convening the acceptance, prepares the acceptance report and, if the client refuses or does not attend, applies to the judge to fix the date on which the works were ready to be accepted.

Between businesses, yes. The late-payment penalties of the Commercial Code apply even if the contract does not mention them, and they apply to interim payments. The Court of Cassation so held, under the former numbering of the provision, stating that "The late-payment penalties provided for by this text, which are due automatically, without reminder and without having to be mentioned in the contract, and apply in particular to interim payments due under a works contract" (our translation) (Cass. com., 21 October 2020, No. 18-25.749). It overturned a court of appeal that had refused these penalties on the ground that the client SCI was not a trader.

The rule now appears in Article L. 441-10 of the Commercial Code, which also regulates payment periods between businesses and provides for a fixed indemnity for recovery costs. These penalties do not apply against a client that is not contracting for its professional activity: the contractor then claims interest at the statutory rate from its formal notice (Article 1231-6 of the Civil Code).

The firm checks the status of the client, calculates the penalties payment application by payment application and includes them in the formal notice, then in the application for a payment order or in the writ of summons.

The period depends on the client. Against a consumer client, an action by a professional for the services it supplies is time-barred after two years (Consumer Code, Article L. 218-2). Against a professional client, the period is five years, on the basis of Article L. 110-4 of the Commercial Code where a party is a trader, otherwise under ordinary law (Article 2224 of the Civil Code).

The starting point has changed. The Court of Cassation used to take, against a consumer, the date of the invoice; it now holds that "the date on which the professional became aware of the facts enabling it to bring its action must therefore be taken into account, which may be marked by completion of the works or performance of the services" (our translation) (Cass. 1re civ., 19 May 2021, No. 20-12.520). In the case before it, however, it kept the date of the invoice so as not to deprive the contractor of access to the court. Delaying the invoice therefore no longer extends the period.

Two years pass quickly on a project that ends with snags and discussions. A reminder is not enough to interrupt the limitation period: the client must acknowledge the contractor's right (Article 2240 of the Civil Code) or a claim must be brought in court, even by urgent application (Article 2241). The firm dates the completion, calculates the deadline and starts the appropriate procedure before it expires.