Article 819

What it means when you sign

The contractor is liable for any damage or loss that results from their own act or workmanship, whether it arises from their transgression or negligence or from some other cause. Liability is excluded only if the damage or loss comes from an event that could not have been avoided.

For a contract about to be signed, this article is relevant to clauses on liability, indemnity, defects and responsibility for site damage. It means the starting rule places responsibility for harm caused by the contractor's work on the contractor, even where no fault is shown. The one exception named in the article is an unavoidable event. A contractor-side clause that pushes responsibility for the contractor's own workmanship onto the employer, or limits it to cases of proven fault, is a clause to read next to this article. An employer-side clause that is silent on liability leaves this rule as the starting point. The wording on what counts as an event outside anyone's control is also worth reading closely.