Making good
The term ‘making good’ or ‘to make good’ is used in construction to refer to the process of repairing or bringing something up to a finished standard, or restoring it to its previous condition.
It is a term which is often used in relation to defects which must be ‘made good’ through remedial works before a specified date after practical completion has been certified. When the contract administrator considers that all defects been made good they issue a certificate of making good. This has the effect of releasing the remainder of any retention and brings about issuing of the final certificate.
For more information, see Certificate of making good.
The term can also be included as a standard clause in the transfer of freehold or leasehold property, where the departing owner or tenant covenants to make good any damage.
This is often described as ‘make good any damage caused by the removal of items’. This could be interpreted as meaning that any holes in walls left by picture hooks, curtain rails, nails, and so on, should be filled in and repainted, or it can be interpreted as meaning any damage that is caused while moving items out of the property should be repaired (e.g. paintwork scraped when moving furniture).
[edit] Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki
Featured articles and news
Cutting construction carbon footprint by caring for soil
Is construction neglecting one of the planet’s most powerful carbon stores and one of our greatest natural climate allies.
ARCHITECTURE: How's it progressing?
Archiblogger posing questions of a historical and contextual nature.
The roofscape of Hampstead Garden Suburb
Residents, architects and roofers need to understand detailing.
Homes, landlords. tenants and the new housing standards
What will it all mean?
The Architectural Technology podcast: Where it's AT
Catch-up on the latest episodes.
Edmundson Apprentice of the Year award 2026
Entries now open for this Electrical Contractors' Association award.
Traditional blue-grey slate from one of the oldest and largest UK slate quarries down in Cornwall.
There are plenty of sources with the potential to be redeveloped.
Change of use legislation breaths new life into buildings
A run down on Class MA of the General Permitted Development Order.
Solar generation in the historic environment
Success requires understanding each site in detail.
Level 6 Design, Construction and Management BSc
CIOB launches first-ever degree programme to develop the next generation of construction leaders.
Open for business as of April, with its 2026 prospectus and new pipeline of housing schemes.
The operational value of workforce health
Keeping projects moving. Incorporating unplanned absence and the importance of health, in operations.
A carbon case for indigenous slate
UK slate can offer clear embodied carbon advantages.
Costs and insolvencies mount for SMEs, despite growth
Construction sector under insolvency and wage bill pressure in part linked to National Insurance, says report.