Practical completion
The point at which the works are complete for their intended use apart from minor items, certified by the contract administrator, releasing half the retention and starting the defects period.
Practical completion is a contractual milestone, not a legal definition, and the standard forms leave it to the contract administrator's judgement: the works are complete for all practical purposes, can be used for their intended purpose, and any outstanding items are minor and do not prevent that use. Its consequences are significant: the employer takes possession and responsibility for insurance and security, liquidated damages for delay stop accruing, half the retention is released, the defects liability (rectification) period begins, and the final account process starts.
For a contractor the practical evidence for practical completion is the snag list (short, with agreed dates), the handover file (O&M manuals, as-built drawings, test certificates, commissioning records, the health and safety file information), and the quality records for the work. A contract administrator who receives all of that at the handover meeting is far more willing to certify with a list of minor items than one who receives it in dribs over the following month.
Where it comes from
- The building contract: JCT clauses on practical completion and the rectification period; NEC completion and defects date.
- Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 reg.12(5) and (6): the health and safety file, to be handed to the client at the end of the project.
Questions people ask
Can practical completion be certified with snags outstanding?
Yes, if they are minor and do not prevent the intended use; the certificate lists them and the contractor completes them within an agreed period. Major or safety-critical items prevent certification.
What happens to retention at practical completion?
Under most standard forms, half the retention is released at practical completion and the other half at the end of the rectification period once defects are made good. Invo-Lynx tracks the retention ledger; SiteLynx produces the quality records that release it.
Practical completion, handled on a phone
SiteLynx puts the RAMS, permits, inspections, audits, plant checks and records behind every term in this glossary on the crew's phones, signed on site, with a PDF at the end. 14 days free, no card.
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