ABIC, HIA, or Master Builders? The Contract Types Explained

If a building contract has landed on your desk, you have probably already done the hard part — a design, a builder, and a number. What most clients do not realise is that the shape of the contract itself carries almost as much risk as the number does. Two projects at the same price can carry very different risk depending on which standard-form contract is used and how it is administered.

QBCC is the regulator, not a contract

The Queensland Building and Construction Commission does not publish its own building contract and does not take sides between ABIC, HIA, and Master Builders. QBCC sets the minimum legal floor every domestic building contract in Queensland has to meet regardless of which template is used — mandatory content under the Domestic Building Contracts Act, the statutory home warranty insurance scheme, and the dispute resolution pathway if something goes wrong. Whichever contract you are handed, the QBCC requirements sit underneath all of them.

HIA contracts

Housing Industry Association contracts are the ones most people have seen before, even without knowing the name — the default for a large share of volume and mid-tier custom builders. HIA publishes several variants, and the one in front of you changes the risk profile of the job: a fixed price contract has the builder wear the risk of the final figure moving, while a cost-plus contract shifts that risk to you.

Master Builders contracts

Master Builders Queensland publishes its own competing suite of standard-form contracts, doing much the same job HIA contracts do, but through a different association with its own drafting and clause language. You will still find fixed-price and cost-plus equivalents, but the specific wording on variations, delay costs, and dispute handling differs from the HIA version — comparing an HIA quote against a Master Builders quote is not comparing like for like until someone has actually read both.

ABIC contracts

This is the one most directly tied to whether you have engaged an architect. ABIC — Australian Building Industry Contracts — is a suite jointly developed by the Australian Institute of Architects and Master Builders Australia, built around a structure the others are not: a contract administrator, typically the architect, sitting between you and the builder to assess progress claims, certify practical completion, and rule on variations. If you have engaged an architect or building designer for your project, there is a real chance ABIC is the contract structure you will be looking at, not HIA or Master Builders — worth knowing before you are reading it for the first time under time pressure.

What this means when you are comparing quotes

None of this is about one contract being better in the abstract — it is about knowing what you are actually comparing. Is it fixed price or cost-plus, and if cost-plus, is there a cap? Who is administering the contract — you and the builder directly, or a third party certifying claims and variations? For the specific clauses worth checking before you sign — liquidated damages, payment schedules, defects liability — see our guide on what to understand in a residential building contract before you sign.

A solicitor is the right person to review contract clauses for legal risk. What Builder Intelligence does is sit on the cost side — making sure the number in front of you reflects the project you actually think you are building, before it is signed. If a quote or contract has landed on your desk and the number does not feel like it matches the brief, see our overview of residential tender management, or get in touch directly.