Is there a list of such issues out there

Hi NG, Under Building Standards in NZ there are legal requirements on what is required to be covered in any contract for work over $30K, which I suppose you can say is a kind of checklist. Also there are some good ‘standard forms’ of contract you can use, or at least refer to, if you are not familiar with writing contracts. The MB form I saw several years ago (which many builders who are themselves MBs might suggest you use, not necessarily out of any ill intent, but because it’s convenient) is not disastrously bad, but in my view needs amendment to make it more suitable for use. I have written on this blog several times about the importance of getting the building contract right, and other people have also written some good advice. Unfortunately too much to repeat here. So I suggest you click ‘ctrl F’ and enter words like contract, insurance, master builder etc in the search box, and try to find the time to read the hundreds of entries. But your comment that you ‘now know to include a clause that requires Builder to provide copies of insurance certificates’ concerns me a bit. Writing a building contract is not always just putting down a list of stuff in your own words. It’s a legal document, and if things go wrong (which is often when you need it most) the exact intent and requirements may end up being tested in an arbitration or court. So it needs to be written with that in mind.