Which contract type generally gives the owner the LEAST cost certainty at the time of signing?
Explanation
Under cost-plus-percentage the fee itself grows with the cost, so the owner learns the final price only when the work is finished - the least certainty of the four, and the reason many owners refuse the form. Cost-plus-fixed-fee is the near miss: the costs are still open but the fee is capped, so escalation at least stops adding to the contractor's margin. A guaranteed maximum price puts a ceiling over the same open costs, and a fixed price fixes the whole number at signing.
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