Article 7 of the Saudi Building Code Law

This article sets a short but important rule for owners and for those who work in construction: design, supervision and execution are carried out under contracts with specialists who hold practice licenses.

The text contains two requirements:

1. A contract: design, supervision and execution work is done under contracts, not under undocumented arrangements.
2. A practice license: the contracting party must be a specialist who holds a practice license. Under Article 1, a practice license is a permit issued by the competent authority to individuals, bodies, institutions and companies to carry out studies and design, execution or supervision work in accordance with the Code.

This is consistent with the definitions in Article 1 of the designer, contractor (executor) and supervisor, each of whom must be licensed and engaged by the owner to do the work.

In practice, an owner who wants to build or restore should contract with a licensed designer, contractor and supervisor. Article 8 then requires each of them to carry out their work in accordance with the Code, and makes the designer who supervises the execution, and the contractor, jointly liable to compensate the owner in the cases of collapse and defects that it mentions. This article does not set the form of the contract or its terms. When preparing such contracts, it is advisable to consult a lawyer specializing in construction contracts and real estate matters.