Architects, Engineers, And Holdbacks

Architects and engineers will receive the benefit of the prompt payment provisions of Alberta's new Prompt Payment and Construction Lien Act. They will be subject to construction lien holdbacks as well.

It was always debatable if engineers and architects should be subject to holdbacks under the Alberta Builders' Lien Act. They always had (and still have) lien rights, at least in respect of certain work (i.e. work "in respect of an improvement"). The corollary is that they always should have been subject to lien holdbacks in respect of the same work. However, in many sectors, it was a practice or convention to exempt consultants from holdbacks, even when they were not legally exempt.