Choosing a construction company in Morocco: a client's guide

In brief

• A main contractor delivers the complete building under a single contract. With separate packages, the client signs one contract per package and carries the coordination.
• The public benchmark: the qualification and classification certificate (Decree n° 2-94-223 of 16 June 1994).
• Article 769 of the Dahir forming the Code of Obligations and Contracts: the architect or engineer and the contractor answer for the collapse of the building, and the ten-year period runs from the day the works are accepted.
• Contractors' all risks insurance (tous risques chantier) and ten-year civil liability insurance (responsabilité civile décennale): compulsory since 30 December 2024 for the buildings covered by the Insurance Code.
• A reference is read through four pieces of information: the client, the nature of the building, the package carried out and the status.

What is a main contractor in building and public works?

A main contractor in building and public works (entreprise générale de BTP), also called a general contractor, is a construction company that undertakes, under a single contract, to deliver a complete building. It carries out part of the works with its own teams, entrusts the rest to subcontractors and answers to the client for the whole.

It sets up the site, builds the structure, follows on with waterproofing, joinery, building services and finishes, keeps the programme and prepares for acceptance. The contract is described as all trades (tous corps d'état) when all these packages are entrusted to it. In the usual arrangement it does not design the building: the plans and the supervision of the works belong to the architect and the engineering consultancies, who make up the design team. Where many construction companies confine themselves to one package or to private villas, a main contractor carries an entire building: a hotel, a clinic, a head office, a factory, a residential complex.

Main contractor or separate packages: which to choose?

Choose a main contractor when you want a single party responsible for time, price and the interfaces between packages. Choose separate packages when your design team is able to coordinate several contractors and you are keen to select each specialist yourself.

• Main contractor: one contract, one point of contact, one programme. The interfaces between packages are its business, and everything rests on a single partner.
• Separate packages: one contract per package (structural works, waterproofing, joinery, electrical, finishes). You compare each price, but coordination and interface disputes rest with you.

In public procurement, the tender documents state whether the contract is a single contract or divided into packages. A private client decides according to its own capacity to manage the project: who will carry the coordination?

What should you check before approaching a construction company?

Six points can be checked on documents before you invite tenders: classification, references, resources, in-house trades, financial health, safety and insurance.

1. Qualification and classification

The qualification and classification system for building and public works contractors was instituted by Decree n° 2-94-223 of 16 June 1994, for the Ministère de l'Équipement (Ministry of Equipment, the ministry responsible for public works). Orders, most recently Order n° 951-25 of 9 April 2025, set, for each sector of activity, the categories, the classification thresholds and the maximum annual amount of a contract for which a contractor in a given category may tender. The certificate therefore shows the sectors in which the contractor is recognised and the size of contract it can carry. Ask for an up-to-date copy, whether your project is public or private.

2. Comparable, documented references

A useful reference resembles your project in its nature, its size and its complexity. Ask for the certificates issued by clients, the acceptance reports and a contact you can call.

3. People and plant

Ask for the organisation chart planned for your site (site manager, site supervisors, engineering office) and the plant assigned to the job, owned or hired. An owned fleet reduces dependence on hire companies.

4. Trades in-house or subcontracted

Subcontracting is not a failing, provided it is disclosed. Ask which packages are carried out by the company's own teams, which are entrusted to third parties, and who supervises them.

5. Financial health

A site has to be financed from one interim payment to the next. Ask for the latest financial statements, up-to-date tax and social security certificates, and the current workload: a company whose cash is under strain slows down, whatever its know-how.

6. Safety and insurance

Ask to be shown how safety is organised on site, together with the insurance certificates. The legal framework is summarised below.

What liability and what insurance does Moroccan law provide for?

Article 769 of the Dahir forming the Code of Obligations and Contracts makes the architect or engineer and the contractor engaged directly by the owner liable when the building collapses, in whole or in part, or is in obvious danger of collapsing, through defective materials, a defect in construction or a defect in the ground. The ten-year period runs from the day the works are accepted.

The same article specifies that an architect who did not direct the works answers only for the defects in the plans, and that the action must be brought within thirty days from the day on which the fact giving rise to the guarantee was established.

According to the Autorité de contrôle des assurances et de la prévoyance sociale (ACAPS, the insurance and social welfare supervisory authority), two insurances have been compulsory since 30 December 2024. The Insurance Code (Law n° 17-99) provides that, for the duration of the site, the building owner must be covered by insurance against damage to the works, and that the architect, the engineer and the contractors bound to the owner by contract must insure their civil liability: this is contractors' all risks insurance. Any person whose ten-year liability may be incurred under Article 769 must also be covered by ten-year civil liability insurance.

These obligations apply in particular to residential buildings of more than three storeys or of more than 800 m² of covered floor area, and to buildings for hotel, industrial, commercial, office, medical, educational or sports use of more than 400 m². They apply neither to works built on behalf of the State or local authorities, nor to alterations to existing buildings, and concern only buildings whose building permit was issued after the obligations came into force. The building owner may require each party to produce its insurance certificates, failing which the contract may be terminated.

In a public works contract, the general administrative conditions (cahier des clauses administratives générales, Decree n° 2-14-394 of 13 May 2016, Article 25) require the contractor to hand over its insurance certificates before any start of works. If the cahier des prescriptions spéciales (the special conditions of the contract) so provides, the contractor also presents a ten-year liability policy, valid from final acceptance until the end of the tenth year that follows.

What questions should you ask a main contractor?

Six questions, put in writing to every company you approach, separate a solid bid from an opportunistic one.

1. Who will be the site manager, and how many sites does that person run at the same time?
2. Which packages do you carry out with your own teams, which are subcontracted, and to whom?
3. Which references of the same nature and the same size can I visit?
4. What plant will be assigned to my site, owned or hired?
5. What programme do you propose, with which milestones?
6. Which insurance certificates will you give me before the site opens?

How do you read a list of references?

A reference is worth what four pieces of information make it: the client, the nature of the building, the package actually carried out and the status.

• Is the client named, and therefore verifiable?
• Is the building comparable to yours in use, floor area and technical complexity?
• Which package did the company carry out: all trades, or structural works only?
• Is the building completed and in use, or still on site?
• Is there an outside trace: a certificate, an acceptance report, a press article?

On our sites: a list of references read line by line

Take our own case, with the information published on our website. AHMA BTP, a main contractor in Marrakech, founded in 1998 and classified by the Ministère de l'Équipement, has more than 250 completed buildings to its name. It brings together seven integrated trades, three of them carried by its subsidiaries AHMA ALU, AHMA WOOD and AHMA STEEL, and an equipment fleet owned outright that includes 22 tower cranes.

Our completed works are mostly public (hospitals, courts, faculties, housing), for contracting authorities such as ministries, foundations, regions and public offices. The project pages state the package and the status, most often the client, sometimes the amount: the Centre régional d'oncologie de Béni Mellal (Béni Mellal Regional Oncology Centre), built for the Fondation Lalla Salma (Lalla Salma Foundation) as a new build covering all trades, is listed at MAD 85 million. Private references read the same way:

• Hôtel J.W. Marriott Cherifia, Marrakech: a 5-star hotel complex, site under way. We are carrying out the structural works and the waterproofing: the reference covers those two packages.
• BMC 1 and BMC 3 business centres (Ben Moulay Center), Marrakech: offices, shops and showrooms for a private client, from structural works to finishes. The works on BMC 1 are complete and the building is in use.
• Flex Auto, Marrakech: showroom and offices for a private client, with structural steelwork and a wide glazed façade, all trades.

These project pages do not replace a certificate signed by the client: they say who ordered what, which package, and what stage the building has reached.

Where should you start?

Start with a short tender enquiry: the brief, the plans available, the target completion time. Send it to three or four companies whose classification and references match the project, and ask them all the same questions. For a building in Marrakech or elsewhere in the Kingdom, you can send us your enquiry.

This guide gives general information, not legal advice: the official texts and the specifications of your contract are authoritative.

Frequently asked questions

What is a building and public works (BTP) company?

A building and public works company, BTP in French, is a firm that carries out building works (housing, offices, hospitals, schools) or public works (roads, civil engineering structures, networks). It may specialise in a single package, such as electrical work or waterproofing, or be a main contractor, that is, able to deliver a complete building under a single contract.

What does a construction company do?

It turns drawings into a building: site set-up, earthworks, foundations, structure, waterproofing, joinery, building services, finishes, then acceptance. It supplies the labour, the plant and the materials, coordinates its subcontractors and answers to the client for time and quality.

Which are the main construction companies in Morocco?

This guide gives neither a ranking nor a list of names: the size of a company does not tell you whether it suits your project. The public benchmark is the qualification and classification system instituted by Decree n° 2-94-223 of 16 June 1994: in each sector of activity, the contractor's category determines the maximum annual amount of the contract for which it may tender. Then compare references of the same nature as your building.

What are the 4 types of construction?

Common usage distinguishes four broad families: residential (villas, apartment buildings, residential complexes), commercial and office (offices, hotels, shops, clinics), industrial (factories, warehouses, workshops) and public facilities and infrastructure (hospitals, schools, roads, civil engineering structures). Each family has its own constraints: a company's references should be judged within the family your project belongs to.

Main contractor or separate packages: what is the difference?

With a main contractor, you sign a single contract and a single party coordinates all the trades. With separate packages, you sign one contract per package and coordination rests with you and your design team. The first arrangement simplifies project management; the second lets you choose each specialist.

Is ten-year liability insurance compulsory in Morocco?

Yes, for the buildings covered by the Insurance Code. Any person whose ten-year liability may be incurred under Article 769 of the Dahir forming the Code of Obligations and Contracts must be covered by ten-year civil liability insurance, and the Autorité de contrôle des assurances et de la prévoyance sociale states that the obligation has been in force since 30 December 2024. It applies only to buildings whose building permit was issued after that entry into force. Works built on behalf of the State or local authorities fall outside this obligation.