Under s 40 of the Domestic Building Contracts Act 1995 (Vic), lock-up stage requires installation of external doors (even if temporary); plyboard barriers in door openings do not satisfy the definition and a builder cannot claim a progress payment on the basis that the works achieve the 'effect' of lock-up or that the remaining work is 'trivial'. Where a building contract is mutually abandoned after the builder ceases work in breach, the builder cannot recover on quantum meruit for work towards an uncompleted stage if the builder's own breach prevented completion and the owners are merely in possession of what they cannot help keeping. Accrued rights to liquidated damages for delay survive abandonment of the contract.
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