Construction and development · Slovakia
Project documentation agreement
A design error appears on the construction site, not on paper, and the resulting loss can be many times the design fee. We prepare or review the design services agreement between investor and designer to address that risk in advance: services by stage, design-defect liability, insurance and any liability limits permitted by law, a documentation licence and designer's supervision during construction.
- For investors and designers
- Balanced liability and insurance
- Prices agreed in advance
What we'll do for you
Full preparation or review of a design services agreement, including the provisions on which design disputes actually turn: defects, licensing, changes to the brief and payments by stage.
Select an item to see the details.
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Initial consultation
We discuss the project and documentation stages commissioned, from permitting documents to detailed construction documents, as well as which side you are on and where your greatest risk lies.
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Subject, scope and standard of services
We define precisely what each stage includes, its level of detail and delivery format, and the agreed standard of the designer's services, so a completed stage cannot mean two different things.
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Design-defect liability and insurance
We establish how documentation defects are notified and remedied, what happens if an error appears only during construction, and whether proposed liability limits are permissible. An authorised architect or authorised civil engineer must hold liability insurance for as long as they are entered in the chamber's register (§ 12(2) and (4) of Act No. 138/1992 Coll.), although the law sets no minimum insured amount. We review the scope of insurance separately; the insured amount does not by itself determine whether a limit is valid or guarantee the amount of compensation.
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Licence and designer's supervision
The documentation is a copyright work. We agree a licence allowing the investor to use it for permitting and construction, have another designer complete it between stages, and make reasonable changes. The agreement also covers designer's supervision during construction, which the building owner is required by law to arrange.
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Deadlines, cooperation, brief changes and payments
We link deadlines to permitting progress and investor cooperation (documents, surveys and decisions), establish a written change process addressing price and timing, and set payment milestones following delivery and approval of each stage.
Deliverablea signed project documentation agreement defining the stages, licence terms and payment milestones
How it works
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- Consultationday 0
We establish the design scope, stages commissioned and your position as investor or designer. This determines the contract's focus and what we advise you to request from the other side.
- Drafting or review
We prepare a tailored agreement or review the other party's draft and identify risks, most often unlimited liability, a missing licence or deadlines unrelated to permits.
- Agreement and signingat your pace
We incorporate comments, negotiate disputed points, usually liability caps, licence scope and milestone payment dates, and deliver a clean copy ready for signing.
No-obligation enquiry
Ready to start?
Send us an enquiry. We usually reply within 24 hours with a price confirmation and next steps. The first 30-minute consultation is free and commits you to nothing.
- 1Send your enquiry via this form
- 2Usually within 24 h you get a price confirmation and plan
- 3We start work only after your approval
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What clients ask
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Why is an ordinary works contract insufficient?
Project documentation has two features that a general works contract usually overlooks. First, it is a copyright work: without an express licence, your right to use it after changing designers or have another practice complete it may be disputed. Second, design errors emerge during construction, with losses potentially far exceeding the design fee. The agreement must therefore address liability, insurance and caps much more carefully than an ordinary works contract.
How is a designer's liability for an error discovered during construction handled?
This is the core of the agreement. A documentation defect is often discovered only during construction, when the issue is no longer redrawing a plan but demolition costs, downtime and changes to the works. We define how the defect is notified, the time allowed for the designer to address it and how loss is compensated. We assess any liability cap under the governing law, the nature of the obligation and statutory prohibitions on limiting compensation for loss. We separately review the insured amount, exclusions and coverage conditions.
Why have a liability cap if I am the investor? Does it only protect the designer?
A cap may allocate commercial risk, but its permissibility is not automatic. In Slovakia, particular regard must be had to statutory restrictions on waiving compensation for future loss. Investors should therefore review both the specific clause and the designer's insurance, including exclusions and the duration of coverage. The insured amount is neither a universal liability cap nor a guarantee of recovery.
What if I want to change designers between stages?
That is precisely what the licence provisions address. The documentation is a copyright work, and without an agreed licence, the original designer may object to someone else continuing its work. We therefore provide that payment for the relevant stage gives the investor the right to use and modify the documentation and have a third party complete it. We also address delivery of source files, not only PDF drawings.
How are deadlines set when the project depends on permitting?
We link each stage's deadlines to actual progress in proceedings and investor cooperation. The next stage should not start before the decisions and inputs on which it depends are available. The agreement also specifies what happens if proceedings are delayed or the brief changes: the extension, work outside the agreed price and how the change is approved in writing. Both parties then know when a delay is truly a delay.
Legal Q&A
Common questions on this topic
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As a developer, do I own the copyright in the design documentation?
Design documentation is protected by copyright if it constitutes a unique result of creative intellectual activity. A technical document or its designation as design documentation does not in itself attract protection. For a protected design, the author is the designer or architect who created it through their own creative activity. Commissioning a design gives you a licence to use it for the purpose arising from the contract, not unlimited rights. Other uses, particularly building the same design again or having another designer alter it, require a specific agreement; moreover, the author’s economic rights cannot be transferred.
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Do we have to arrange supervision by the designer during construction? And what about the architect’s author’s supervision?
Yes. The Building Act obliges the builder to arrange design supervision by the designer while the building is being constructed, and continuous supervision in the case of reserved buildings. Alongside it, the author of the architectural work has its own entitlement to carry out author’s supervision, even where the building design is prepared by another designer. The Act does not, however, say to what extent and for what fee the supervision is carried out; that must be set out in the contract with the designer and with the architect.
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Who is to arrange the surveying, the ground surveys and the network statements for the design: we, or the designer?
Unless the contract provides otherwise, they are arranged by the builder. The Building Act requires it to arrange the surveying data, engineering-geological and other surveys, statements of the consulted legal persons and cooperation with the designer. The designer is, however, responsible for determining the scope of the surveys and measurements that the design requires. The contract with the designer should therefore say expressly who procures what, who pays for it and how this affects the deadlines.
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Further reading
From an architectural study to the building design: documentation stages and the contracts that carry them
The new Building Act recognises four stages of design documentation and does not list the architectural study among them. We explain what each stage contains, who may prepare it and how to set up contracts with the architect and the designer so that they dovetail. The article is for developers and investors preparing a project from the land upwards.
Read more →
Selling a permitted project? The licence to the study and the design does not pass with the land automatically
When a development project is sold, the buyer pays not only for the land but also for the completed documentation. The right to use it, however, is a licence from the architect and the designer, which cannot simply be assigned without their consent. We explain how this works on a sale of land, on a sale of the project company, and what to have in the contracts from the outset.
Read more →
After the first flat is sold: the developer as co-owner of the building, the repair fund and defects in common parts
With the first transfer of a flat, the developer becomes one of the owners of the building. It pays contributions to the operation, maintenance and repair fund for the unsold flats, votes at meetings, and the rights arising from defects in the building against the contractor pass to the flat owners. This article explains what to prepare for before the first purchase agreement is signed.
Read more →