October 6, 2026 · Updated October 20, 2026

CCDC 2 (2020) Stipulated Price Contract for Ontario Owners

CCDC 2 is the standard Canadian contract for building a project for one fixed price. You, the owner, agree a single lump sum with a general contractor for a defined scope of work, shown on a complete set of drawings and specifications, and the contractor takes on the job of building it for that price. The current edition is CCDC 2 – 2020, published by the Canadian Construction Documents Committee in December 2020, and it is still the current edition as of October 2026. Its formal name is the Stipulated Price Contract, which is why you’ll also hear it called a stipulated sum or lump sum contract.

Most of what’s written about CCDC 2 is for contractors or lawyers. This article is for the owner who has been handed one to sign: when it’s the right contract, what each part does, how changes and payment work under it in Ontario, what owners commonly amend, and a checklist for before signing. It isn’t legal advice, and a construction lawyer should draft your supplementary conditions.

What CCDC 2 is and when owners use it

What “stipulated price” means

A stipulated price contract is one where the contractor agrees to build a defined scope of work for a single fixed price set before work starts. In Canada, “stipulated price” and “lump sum” describe the same kind of contract: McLennan Ross describes CCDC 2 as setting a “single, pre-determined fixed price, or lump sum, for the project” (McLennan Ross via Mondaq, November 2023). “Stipulated price” is simply the name the CCDC forms use.

Under CCDC 2 the contractor commits to a Contract Price for the Work described in the Contract Documents. If the work costs the contractor more than they expected, that is generally their problem. If it costs less, the saving is theirs. The price moves only through the mechanisms the contract allows: changes you ask for, conditions nobody could have known about, delays the contract says are yours, changes to taxes and duties, and adjustments to cash allowances.

That is the appeal for an owner. You know your construction number at the start, and the risk of the contractor’s own productivity, buying and coordination sits with the party best placed to manage it. In exchange, the contractor prices that risk into the bid, and every change after signing has to be priced and agreed.

When CCDC 2 fits

CCDC 2 works best when three things are true:

• The design is complete. Drawings and specifications are coordinated and the scope is settled. A fixed price is only as fixed as the documents it was priced from.
• You want a competitive tender. Several contractors price the same documents and you take the best compliant bid, using CCDC’s guide to calling bids (CCDC 23).
• You can wait for the design to finish. Construction can’t start until the documents are done, which makes this the slowest of the common routes. This is the design-bid-build route, compared with its main alternative in design-build vs design-bid-build.

New industrial buildings, base-building work on a known site, institutional projects and well-defined fit-outs are typical CCDC 2 projects. Our own experience with stipulated-price delivery was built at PCL Constructors and Oxford Properties, including Building 3 at Oxford’s Riverbend Business Park in Burnaby, a $15M industrial building delivered lump-sum in 2020.

When it doesn’t

CCDC 2 is the wrong tool when the design won’t be finished before you need to start, when you’re renovating a building with a lot of unknowns behind the walls, or when you want the contractor’s input during design. A fixed price signed against incomplete documents usually brings the unknowns back later as changes, priced when there’s no competition left.

CCDC 2 vs the other CCDC contracts

CCDC publishes a family of contracts, each built around a different way of setting the price and sharing the risk. The CCDC document list shows the current editions. The ones owners compare most often:

CCDC 5A and 5B were refreshed in June 2025, their first update since 2010, and now use the same Ready-for-Takeover milestone CCDC 2 introduced in 2020 (BLG, July 2025). How construction management works for an owner is in owner’s rep vs construction manager. Design-build under CCDC 14, including what changed in its 2026 edition, is in CCDC 14 for Ontario owners.

What’s in CCDC 2, part by part

CCDC 2 has three pieces, and every CCDC 2 project adds a fourth.

1. The Agreement. The front pages: who the parties are, the Work, the Contract Price, the dates (including the Ready-for-Takeover date), the list of Contract Documents, payment terms, and where notices go. Most of what’s specific to your project is filled in here.
2. The Definitions. Terms like Contract Documents, Change Order, Change Directive, Ready-for-Takeover, Working Day and Notice in Writing. Capitalized words in the contract mean exactly what these definitions say, so it’s worth reading them once.
3. The General Conditions. The rules of the game, in Parts 1 to 13.
4. Supplementary Conditions. Your amendments to the standard form. More on these below.

The General Conditions are where an owner’s obligations sit. Here’s what each Part does, in plain words:

The general conditions owners most often trip on

Financing information (GC 5.1). The contractor is entitled to ask for reasonable evidence that you’ve arranged the money to pay for the project, before signing and from time to time after. CCDC Bulletin 10 (2025) lists what contractors are told to ask for: the owner’s legal name, who holds title to the land, the sources of financing and their terms. It’s a reasonable ask on a project of any size, and having the answer ready keeps the start from stalling.

Other contractors on site (GC 3.2). If you bring in separate contractors (furniture, IT cabling, security), coordinating them with the general contractor is your job. Late owner work is a common source of delay claims, and one of the easier ones to plan out.

Unknown conditions (GC 6.4). If the contractor finds conditions below ground or concealed in an existing building that differ materially from what the documents showed, the price and time can be adjusted. A geotechnical report and a proper survey of an existing building, done during design and included in the tender, are the best protection you have here.

Delays (GC 6.5). The contract separates delays caused by you or your consultants (the contractor gets time and cost), delays caused by things outside everyone’s control such as labour disputes or fire (time, generally not cost), and delays caused by the contractor (no relief). The practical point is that slow decisions on your side count as owner delay, which we’ve written about in the quiet cost of slow decisions.

Ready-for-Takeover (GC 12.1). The 2020 edition added a milestone after substantial performance. Ready-for-Takeover needs substantial performance certified, occupancy permitted where required, final cleaning done, as-builts and operation and maintenance documents delivered, start-up testing and training complete, and the owner given access. The Consultant has 10 days from the contractor’s application to confirm it or say why not. This is the date in your Agreement, and it’s a much better match for “can I move in and operate?” than substantial performance on its own.

Warranty (GC 12.3). The standard warranty is one year from Ready-for-Takeover, per CCDC Bulletin 2 (2025). Longer product and system warranties (roofing, glazing, mechanical) are specified in the technical sections. If you occupy part of the building early under GC 12.2, the warranty on that part starts at occupancy (Legal 500, 2022).

Insurance and bonds (Part 11). Required insurance is set out in CCDC 41, which the contract incorporates. Bonds are specified in the Agreement or supplementary conditions, on CCDC’s standard bond forms (updated in 2024). Have your broker confirm both fit the project before tender.

How changes work under CCDC 2

Every fixed-price project has some changes, and the contract is built to handle them. What you control is how early they’re decided and how well they’re priced and recorded. Where changes actually come from, and how to prevent the preventable ones, is in change orders: where they actually come from.

Change order vs change directive

CCDC 2 has two instruments, and owners use them for different situations.

A Change Directive keeps the job moving when there isn’t time to settle the price first, for example when a concealed condition has to be dealt with before the next trade can start. Under either instrument, the contractor’s claim for extra money outside an agreed change goes through GC 6.6, which sets the notice the contractor has to give and the records they have to keep.

Allowances and taxes

Two other things move the price without being a change in scope:

• Cash allowances (GC 4.1). Amounts carried in the price for items not yet selected, such as finishes or signage. Under the 2020 edition the Consultant can move unspent amounts between allowances, and the Contract Price only goes up if the total of all allowances is exceeded. Keep the allowance list short and the amounts realistic, because a low allowance comes back later as an increase.
• Taxes and duties (GC 10.1). If a tax, duty or tariff changes after bid and that changes the contractor’s cost, the price is adjusted, up or down. CCDC Bulletin 11 (2025) confirms that tariffs are included, that the adjustment runs both ways, and that the party asking has to substantiate it.

A change process that holds up

What keeps changes under control is the process around the instruments:

1. Agree change markups in the supplementary conditions before tender, so you’re not negotiating them change by change.
2. Ask for itemized quotes: labour hours and rates, material quantities and prices, equipment, then markup.
3. Set a turnaround: a quote within so many days of a request, and your decision within so many days of the quote.
4. Use a Change Directive only when the work genuinely can’t wait, and require daily time and material records signed by the Consultant while it runs.
5. Keep a change log of pending, approved and disputed items against your contingency, reviewed at every site meeting.

Sizing the contingency behind all this is covered in how much contingency is enough.

How payment and holdback work in Ontario

CCDC 2 assumes monthly progress payments and defers to provincial payment law. In Ontario that’s the Construction Act, and where the two disagree the Act wins: section 5 deems every construction contract amended to conform to it. Several rules changed on January 1, 2026, so a contract template prepared before then may need updating.

Monthly invoices and the 28-day clock

• Proper invoices are monthly unless the contract says otherwise (s. 6.3(1)). Section 6.1 lists what a proper invoice has to contain.
• The invoice can’t be made conditional on certification. A clause requiring the Consultant to certify before the contractor can submit a proper invoice has no effect (s. 6.3(2)). Certification can still happen after the invoice is given. That’s why CCDC 2 – 2020 has the contractor send the application to the owner and the Consultant at the same time.
• New in 2026: seven days to flag a defective invoice. If an invoice is missing required information, it’s deemed a proper invoice unless you tell the contractor in writing within seven days what’s missing (s. 6.1(2), in force January 1, 2026).
• Pay within 28 days of receiving a proper invoice (s. 6.4(1)).
• To withhold any amount, give a notice of non-payment within 14 days of receiving the invoice, in the prescribed form, with the amount and every reason (s. 6.4(2)). Anything not covered by the notice still has to be paid on day 28.
• Late payment carries interest at the prejudgment rate under the Courts of Justice Act, or the contract rate if that’s higher (s. 6.9).

An owner whose internal approval chain takes three weeks will miss both the 7-day and 14-day deadlines. Set up the review process before the first invoice arrives.

The 10% holdback

Every payer retains 10% of the value of work done as holdback (s. 22(1)), so on each invoice you pay 90%. The holdback exists to protect subcontractors and suppliers who have lien rights. Holding it back properly also limits your own exposure: your personal liability to lien claimants is generally capped at the holdback you were required to keep (s. 23).

Annual holdback release, from 2026

Before 2026, annual release of holdback was something the parties could agree to. Since January 1, 2026 it’s mandatory. Within 14 days after each anniversary of the contract date, the owner publishes a notice of annual release of holdback, then pays the year’s accrued holdback between 60 and 74 days after the notice, unless a lien has been preserved (s. 26(2) to (4)). The contractor then has 14 days to pass the subcontractors’ share down (s. 26(5)).

For contracts signed before January 1, 2026, the first mandatory release falls on the second contract anniversary after that date, and it includes all holdback accrued until then (s. 87.4(4)). On a long project that is a large payment, and your lender’s draw schedule should allow for it. Our guide to construction liens and holdback in Ontario sets out the owner’s side of the release, step by step. Fasken’s summary of the 2026 amendments is a useful plain-language read.

Substantial performance and final holdback

At the end of the job, the Consultant certifies substantial performance under GC 5.4, and the Act sets the test: the building or a substantial part of it is ready for use, and it can be finished for no more than 3% of the first $1 million of the contract price, 2% of the next $1 million and 1% of the balance (s. 2(1)). Once the certificate is published, the contractor’s lien rights expire 60 days later if not preserved (s. 31(2)), and the remaining holdback is paid within 14 days after all liens have expired or been dealt with (s. 26(8)). A separate 10% holdback applies to work done after substantial performance (s. 22(2)). Reaching that point and taking the building over, with the threshold worked out, is covered in substantial performance in Ontario.

Here is the whole cycle in one place:

When there’s a payment dispute

The Act gives either party a fast route to an interim decision through adjudication (Part II.1), and CCDC 2 – 2020 recognizes it in GC 8.2. An adjudicator’s decision is binding in the meantime, and the parties can still take the dispute further under the contract’s own steps in GC 8.3: negotiation, then mediation, then binding arbitration if either party refers it within 10 Working Days of the mediation ending (CCDC Bulletin 12, 2026). Adjudicators work from the notices and records, so your position starts with the 14-day notice of non-payment.

Supplementary conditions owners commonly add

Very few CCDC 2 projects use the form as printed. Owners amend it through supplementary conditions, a separate document listed in the Agreement as one of the Contract Documents. Most of your project-specific terms sit there, and it’s the document a construction lawyer should draft.

CCDC itself is cautious about how far owners go. CCDC Bulletin 1 (2025) warns against amendments that repeat what the form already says, paraphrase it, or try to override legislation, and against wording designed to undermine the balance of the form. That balance matters to you too: heavily one-sided amendments tend to come back as higher bids or fewer bidders.

With that in mind, these are the areas owners most often address. As a public example, the City of Waterloo’s supplementary conditions to CCDC 2 – 2020 (May 2023) touch most of them, and the Ontario Association of Architects publishes a recommended set for its members’ projects.

• Markups on changes. Waterloo’s version caps the markup at 15% on the first $100,000 of changes and 10% after that, with 5% for the general contractor on subcontractor changes. Your numbers may differ; the point is that they’re agreed before bids come in.
• What a Change Directive can charge. Owners often list exclusions, such as head office overhead and site supervision where the change doesn’t extend the schedule.
• Payment mechanics. Where invoices go, what backup comes with them (statutory declaration, WSIB clearance), and a price breakdown before the first claim so it can be checked for front-loading.
• Delays. Excluding indirect and consequential losses from delay claims, and recovering the Consultant’s extra fees when the contractor finishes late.
• Liquidated damages. A daily amount for late Ready-for-Takeover, set as a genuine estimate of what lateness costs you rather than a penalty.
• Close-out documents. As-builts, manuals, warranties and test reports required before substantial performance.
• Insurance, bonds and set-off. Project-specific insurance, bond amounts, and your right to set off amounts owed to you.
• Construction Act updates. Contracts based on templates from before January 1, 2026 should be checked against the new invoice and annual holdback rules.

Supplementary conditions should be settled before tender, so every bidder prices the same terms. Negotiating them after you’ve picked a contractor means negotiating without competition, which is one of the points in five questions to ask before you sign.

Before you sign: a checklist for owners

Work through this with your Consultant and your lawyer. Each item should have an answer you can write down.

1. Are the documents complete? Coordinated across disciplines, with nothing “to be determined” that you expect to be in the price.
2. Is this the right contract? If the design isn’t finished or there are big unknowns, compare CCDC 2 with CCDC 3 or 5B before tender, not after.
3. Is the price checked? Against your pre-tender estimate and the other bids; a bid well below the rest needs a scope review. Reading a construction estimate covers what to look for.
4. Are the allowances realistic? Each cash allowance listed, with an amount based on something real.
5. Is the Ready-for-Takeover date right? Achievable, consistent with the schedule in the bid, and tied to liquidated damages if you’re using them.
6. Are change markups and rates agreed? In the supplementary conditions, with a turnaround for quotes and decisions.
7. Is your payment process ready? Who receives invoices, who reviews them, and how you’ll meet the 7, 14 and 28-day deadlines.
8. Is the holdback plan in place? Who tracks the contract anniversary, publishes the annual release notice, and checks for preserved liens before paying.
9. Is your financing information ready? What you’ll give the contractor under GC 5.1, and whether your lender’s draw schedule matches the contract’s payment cycle.
10. Are insurance and bonds confirmed? Your broker has reviewed CCDC 41 against the project, and bond amounts are set.
11. Are site investigations in the tender? Geotechnical report, existing building survey, designated substances survey for renovation work.
12. Is owner-supplied work scheduled? Your own vendors listed, with dates, so the general contractor can plan around them.
13. Has a lawyer reviewed the supplementary conditions? Not a template from a previous project left unchecked against the current Act.

Frequently asked questions

What’s the difference between CCDC 2 and CCDC 5B?

CCDC 2 is a fixed price for complete documents: the contractor carries the cost risk for the defined work. CCDC 5B is construction management, where the construction manager is paid the cost of the work plus a fee, often starting before design is finished, and the owner carries more of the cost risk unless the parties later agree a stipulated price. CCDC 2 suits a finished design and a competitive tender; 5B suits larger or faster projects.

Is a stipulated price contract the same as a lump sum contract?

Yes. In Canada the two terms describe the same arrangement: the contractor agrees one fixed price for a defined scope of work, and the price moves only through the changes and adjustments the contract allows. “Stipulated price” is the term the CCDC uses in CCDC 2, while “lump sum” is the everyday name you’ll hear on site and in tender documents. Both differ from cost-plus, where you pay the actual cost of the work plus a fee.

What is a CCDC 3 contract?

CCDC 3 is the Cost Plus Contract, current edition 2016. The owner pays the contractor’s actual cost of the work plus a fee, which can be fixed or a percentage of cost, and the form provides for a guaranteed maximum price or a target price. It suits renovations and projects with unknowns, and it needs closer cost tracking from the owner, because the owner pays the actual cost. Our guide to cost-plus contracts covers how to run one.

What changed in CCDC 2 – 2020?

The main changes were the Ready-for-Takeover milestone, early occupancy, payment terms aligned with provincial prompt payment law, adjudication, tighter limits on Change Directive costs, higher insurance limits, more flexible cash allowances, and a narrower contractor duty to review the documents for errors (Thompson Dorfman Sweatman via Legal 500, 2022).

What are CCDC documents?

CCDC is the Canadian Construction Documents Committee, a national committee formed in 1974 with public and private owner representatives, the national architects’, engineers’, contractors’ and specification writers’ associations, and a construction lawyer. It publishes standard contracts (CCDC 2, 3, 5A, 5B, 14, 17 and others), guides and forms for Canadian construction. The forms are bought from authorized outlets such as local construction associations, and each contract has to carry a CCDC copyright seal, physical or electronic.

Where to start

If you have a CCDC 2 on your desk now, spend the time on the supplementary conditions and the payment process, where the project-specific deal and the Ontario deadlines sit. If you’re earlier than that, settle whether a fixed price suits your project while the design is still in progress.

We review contracts, tender results and change processes for owners before they sign, as part of our construction consulting work. We’ve administered these clauses on live projects for 20+ years, and before signing is the easiest time to ask the questions above.