CCDC 2 is the industry-standard prime contract between an Owner and a prime Contractor, fixing a single, pre-determined price for the whole project rather than paying for actual cost as the work proceeds.
CCDC describes its own document as "the industry standard prime contract between Owner and prime Contractor. This contract establishes a single, pre-determined fixed price, or lump sum, for the project." The same page states it covers "the role and authority of the consultant, procedures for changes in the work, work by other contractors, insurance requirements, prerequisites for Ready-for-Takeover, dispute resolution procedures, early occupancy by the Owner." Payment is not a single lump-sum cheque at the end: the same description notes that "operating on the basis of a stipulated price, the CCDC 2 assumes monthly progress payments and makes reference to provincial payment legislations where applicable," which in Ontario means the statutory holdback and, since 1 January 2026, the annual holdback release rules under the Construction Act.
Because the price is fixed at signing, everything CCDC 2 does after that point is about controlling what can move it. The consultant (usually the project’s architect or engineer) administers the contract and certifies progress and substantial performance; changes to scope go through the contract’s own change process rather than a fresh negotiation of the whole price; and the Ready-for-Takeover prerequisites give both sides a defined finish line rather than a subjective judgment call about when the building is done.
An owner and general contractor sign a CCDC 2 for $8 million to build a warehouse addition, with the consultant certifying monthly progress payments as the work proceeds. Partway through, the owner asks for a loading-dock redesign that wasn’t in the original drawings. Because CCDC 2 fixes the price at signing, that redesign doesn’t get folded into ordinary progress billing — it has to go through the contract’s own change process before the general contractor is entitled to be paid for it, and until it does, the $8 million figure stands as the number both sides are bound to.
See also: CCA 1 subcontract · Certificate of substantial performance · Reviewing a construction contract with AI.
A 30-minute call is enough to tell you whether AI pays for itself here.
