An employer’s representative instructs a Turkish contractor to alter the works and promises written approval later. The contractor completes the change, but the employer disputes the representative’s authority and refuses additional payment. The resulting Iraqi construction claim turns on more than proof that extra work occurred.
The contractor must connect the instruction to a legally effective obligation, demonstrate compliance with the contract and establish the resulting cost or delay. Iraqi Civil Code rules on agency, contractual performance and construction obligations inform that analysis alongside the agreed project conditions.
Separate technical instructions from contractual authority
A person appointed to supervise workmanship may have authority to reject defective work without authority to increase the contract price. The appointment letter, contract and any valid delegation should be examined together. A senior job title alone does not establish the power to approve a variation.
Where the employer is a government entity, the review must also address the applicable procurement framework and approval requirements. A site team’s commercial agreement cannot safely be treated as a substitute for an approval legally reserved to another authority.
The current federal public contracting instructions define a variation as a written order from the contracting authority. That requirement makes the legal effect of an informal site instruction particularly important in public projects.
The first question is therefore who could bind the employer to the particular change, rather than who was physically present when the instruction was given.
Confirm the instruction through the contractual procedure
A contemporaneous written confirmation should identify the speaker, date, location and exact change requested. It should explain the contractor’s understanding of the effect on scope, price and programme, while requesting confirmation from the authorised person.
Construction contracts in Iraq often contain separate procedures for instructions, variations and claims. Sending minutes of a meeting may prove the discussion but still leave a contractual notice requirement unfulfilled. The contractor should use the required recipient and delivery method and retain evidence of receipt.
Silence should be assessed in its contractual and factual context. A letter stating that silence will be treated as approval does not necessarily create that consequence where the parties never agreed to it.
Prove additional entitlement and its value
An instruction may concern work already included in the original price. Compare the revised requirement with the drawings, specifications and allocation of design responsibility before presenting it as an additional payment claim.
For each disputed instruction, preserve:
- The original contractual requirement and revised instruction.
- Evidence of the representative’s appointment or delegation.
- Notices and responses from the employer.
- Labour, materials and equipment attributable to the change.
- Programme records showing the effect on completion.
Cost records should distinguish additional expenditure from resources already allowed for in the contract. Delay analysis should explain which activity was affected and how that affected completion, taking account of other causes operating during the same period.
Examine later approval and urgent work separately
Later conduct may be relevant to whether an authorised employer representative adopted the change. A payment certificate, approved drawing or express confirmation can carry different evidential weight. Receipt of the completed work should be analysed carefully rather than automatically described as ratification of every disputed price.
Urgent safety work presents a separate issue. The contractor should record the immediate risk, contractual duties and alternatives available. The legal basis for protective work and reimbursement needs its own assessment; ordinary variation assumptions may not answer it.
If authority remains disputed, preserve the claim while considering the agreed escalation and dispute procedure. Stopping work without assessing the contractual consequences can expose the contractor to a competing allegation of breach.
Etihad Law Firm provides construction contract review in Iraq for Turkish contractors. The review connects authority, notice requirements and evidence of loss, allowing a variation claim to explain why payment is legally due and how the claimed amount was calculated.