What is the UAV?
The UAV, short for Uniforme Administratieve Voorwaarden voor de uitvoering van werken en van technische installatiewerken, are the standard Dutch general conditions of contract for carrying out construction and building services works. The current edition is the UAV 2012. They set out the rights and obligations of client and contractor during construction, so these do not have to be drafted from scratch for every project. In role they are comparable to standard forms such as JCT in the UK or FIDIC internationally, although the content is different.
When do they apply?
The UAV do not apply automatically. They must be declared applicable in the contract or in the specification (the Dutch “bestek”), and the parties can deliberately deviate from them. The UAV 2012 assume the traditional procurement route: the client provides the design and the contractor builds to it.
What do the UAV cover?
- Supervision (“directie”): who supervises and instructs on behalf of the client.
- Variations: how additional and omitted work is instructed and valued.
- Inspection and handover: how the work is inspected, when it counts as completed and what happens to defects.
- Risk and liability: responsibility for design, workmanship, damage and unforeseen circumstances.
- Payment: interim payments, security and a deduction for late completion where the specification provides for one.
UAV or UAV-GC?
For integrated contracts such as design and construct, the contractor also takes on design. For these there are the UAV-GC 2005, which allocate design responsibility and the related liability differently from the UAV 2012.
Practical tips
- Read the deviations: anything the contract sets out differently overrides the UAV, and that is often where the key agreements are.
- Variations in writing: record additional and omitted work before it is carried out, including price and effect on the programme.
- Take handover seriously: record defects carefully at handover. Defects that were visible but not reported are harder to claim later.
- Working in the Netherlands: if you tender for Dutch work, check which conditions apply and how they differ from the forms you are used to.
Related terms
- Construction contract
- Building specification
- Variations in a building contract
- Omitted work
- Contractor
- Tendering
- Design and construct
Want to learn more about construction terms? Visit our knowledge base at fredsdiyplans.com.