The 50-year Guarantee: How Structural-defect Rules Are Rewriting Construction Defect Liability in Saudi Arabia

In parallel, Saudi contracting practice often tries to “hard-wire” structural-defect exposure into the deal. Many FIDIC-based contracts used in the Kingdom include provisions attempting to replicate the decennial liability requirements of article 29 of the Saudi Building Code Implementing Regulations. Under that approach, the designer or engineer supervising execution and the contractor become jointly liable for 10 years from completion, compensating the owner for total or partial demolition and any hidden defect that threatens the building’s durability and safety. Separately, contracts often add bespoke latent-defect clauses that can run longer than 10 years and may apply to any defects, depending on drafting. This is more onerous than a serious-defect-only statutory concept, because contractual “latent defects” are often defined simply as defects not discoverable during the standard defects notification period.

Where Statutory Structural Liability Ends and Contract Risk Begins

Decennial liability concepts also help frame what “serious defect” means in practice. As a general explanation, decennial liability is usually limited to major structural failures affecting a structure’s fitness, including partial or total collapses or situations where there is a risk of significant damage. It can overlap with contractual defects regimes, and it can be possible to bring alternative claims under both statutory and contract routes. Delivery triggers are also a live issue in civil-code systems: the issuance of a taking over certificate would likely constitute delivery, but the position can be less clear for sectional completion when different parts are delivered at different times. For Saudi projects using amended FIDIC, that makes handover mechanics and completion definitions commercially decisive.

A UAE comparison illustrates how strict these regimes can be when they are codified. In the UAE, a contractor and supervising engineer are jointly liable to the employer for 10 years after handover if the building collapses or develops a defect threatening structural stability or safety, and that liability exists regardless of fault and cannot be excluded by contract. The period runs from the date stated in the Taking Over Certificate, and there is also a further 3-year window after the collapse or defect appears (within the 10-year period) in which a claim must be filed. Federal Decree-Law No. 25 of 2025 comes into force on 1 June 2026 and preserves the core regime while adding rules on recovery against subcontractors, with recourse claims running on an ordinary 5-year commercial limitation period. While this is UAE-specific, it highlights why Saudi parties focus on how joint liability, handover dates, and back-to-back subcontract provisions will operate in a dispute.

All of this lands in a market that is active and complex. A market outlook source values the Saudi Arabia construction market at USD 142.30 billion in 2026 and projects growth at a CAGR of 5.52% to reach USD 186.13 billion by 2031, while also pointing to a USD 126 billion grid program generating utility work. On mobility projects, it notes Riyadh Metro’s 35-kilometer northern leg, awarded in 2025, and a forecast of 3.6 million daily riders by 2030. As owners push schedules and scale, contractors should treat construction defect liability in Saudi Arabia as a front-end governance issue: align completion and handover wording, map contractual latent-defect promises against the serious-defect concepts, and ensure dispute clauses and documentation can withstand scrutiny under the Civil Code’s codified interpretation framework.