Termination for convenience
Termination for convenience lets the builder end the contract on notice without any breach by you - present in the large majority of Australian subcontracts, and largely unchallengeable once signed.
The clause converts your contract from a commitment into an option. The realistic negotiation is not deleting it but pricing the exit: payment for work performed, materials ordered, demobilisation, and a margin component on terminated work - the "exit account".
Why it matters to subbies
Around nine in ten contracts analysed for the Index carry the clause. If the builder can end the job at will, your tender assumptions about volume and recovery of establishment costs need the exit account to survive it.
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General information for Australian subcontractors, not legal advice - contract drafting and state legislation vary and change; your document and your state's Act govern. Written by Mat Kennedy at The Construction Contracts Co.