20.01 A construction contract is a compact of rights and obligations. The right of a party to a contract is usually the expectation that the other party will conduct itself in a particular way. Where an owner engages a contractor to perform certain work, the owner is entitled to expect the contractor to perform the work in question, and the contractor is entitled to look to the owner for payment for that work. The mutual expectations of each party represent rights, the flipside of which are obligations on the other party to do what it has promised to do (or not do that which it promised not to do). The allocation of risk and responsibility as between the parties to a contract is essentially a matter to be worked out between themselves.