What is a turnkey contract in construction?

A turnkey contract is one where a single firm takes on the entire job, from design and approvals to construction and handover, usually for one agreed price. When the work is done, the client is handed the key and the building is ready to use. That is where the name comes from.

The client signs one contract and deals with one team. In return, the contractor carries the responsibility for making all the parts fit together.

What does a turnkey contract cover?

Everything needed to make the building ready to use. The contract should list it, and the usual scope includes:

• Architectural and structural design
• Statutory approvals
• Civil and structural works, and finishes
• Electrical, plumbing and firefighting services
• Roads, drainage, water and other external works
• Testing, commissioning and handover

Some contracts also include a period of maintenance after handover, which is well worth asking for.

What does one look like in practice?

Our work for the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation on Kaulagarh Road, Dehradun, is a good example.

The contract was a lump sum turnkey for design and construction. It covered:

• 80 ‘C’ type flats of at least 115 sq m each
• About 15,000 sq m of external development
• A sewage treatment plant and an organic waste composter
• Internal roads, electrification and firefighting
• Rainwater harvesting and storm water drainage
• The statutory approvals, and three years of maintenance

Work began on 25 October 2019 and the colony was complete on 13 August 2021. ONGC’s completion certificate records the work as completed satisfactorily. You can read this and others in our case studies.

Look at how much of that list sits outside the flats themselves. In a turnkey job, all of it has one owner.

How is turnkey different from a normal building contract?

The main difference is who holds the design.

In a conventional job, the client appoints an architect and engineers, and the contractor builds to their drawings. Questions between the drawings and the site are settled between the client’s team and the contractor.

In a turnkey job, design and construction sit with the same firm. Questions get settled inside one team, and the client deals with a single point of contact.

	Conventional contract	Turnkey contract
Who produces the drawings	Your architect and engineers	The contractor, or its design partners
Contracts you manage	Several	One
How the price usually works	Measured against quantities	Lump sum
Control over design detail	High, throughout	Set at the start in the brief
Who answers for the whole job	Shared between parties	The contractor

What are the advantages?

Turnkey suits clients who would rather run their own organisation than a building project.

• One point of contact. One firm answers every question.
• Cost known early. A lump sum gives you a figure to plan around.
• Design and building work together. The people drawing it know how it will be built.
• Less to coordinate. The contractor manages the consultants and specialist teams.

What should you write down before you sign?

The quality of a turnkey job is decided by the quality of the brief. The price is fixed early, so the clearer the brief, the fewer questions later.

Write these down:

1. The specification: brands, grades of material and finishes
2. The list of what is included, room by room and outside the building
3. Who obtains which approvals, and who pays the fees
4. How changes will be priced if you ask for them
5. The maintenance period, and what it covers
6. Payment stages, tied to measured progress on site

Ask to see the design at set stages too, so that you can comment while changes are still easy to make.

When is turnkey the right choice?

It works best when you know what you need and want one party to deliver it. Housing colonies, staff quarters, schools and institutional buildings are often a natural fit, because the requirement can be clearly described at the start.

If you already have an architect you love, or a building with many unique design decisions, building to your own drawings may suit you better. We work all three ways: to your drawings, as design and build with approved design partners, or as a full turnkey job. Our capability page explains each one.

We have completed turnkey projects for government and private clients across many kinds of building, including homes, offices, hospitals, shopping malls, gymnasiums and Olympic size swimming pools.

How do you start?

Start with a clear brief: what the building is for, how many people will use it, your site and your budget. That is enough for a first conversation, and the drawings can follow from there.

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Thinking about a turnkey job? Tell us about your project, and we will tell you how we would approach it.