The prime contract is the direct agreement between the owner and the general contractor (or construction manager, depending on the delivery method) that establishes the primary contractual relationship governing the entire project. Every subcontract on the job flows from, and generally must align with, the terms established in this document.
Prime contracts typically incorporate standard industry forms. AIA A101 and its companion general conditions, A201, are widely used for private commercial work, though owners and their counsel frequently modify these standard forms with supplementary conditions to address project-specific requirements. Reading both the base form and every supplementary modification matters, since a supplementary condition can substantially change a standard clause’s effect without necessarily calling attention to itself as prominently as the base document does.
