Contracts? Anybody issue them?

[STEVO]

Evening all!
I am putting in a price for tiling of 20 bathrooms in a hotel refurb. If we win the work ai am planning on getting
the customer to sign a contract, covering the price (er obviously!), and payment terms etc.
Does anyone have any experience of this and can i get hold of a sample contract that suits our trade?

It looks like from my first meeting on the site that its not being run by a "professional building firm/contractor" as the site is not set up like a full blown construction site if you see what i mean!

any suggestions/help/advise welcome.

cheers,
Paul.

 

[JLM Tiling]

I get every single thing I do signed off. It's just a cover letter that explains my payment conditions (these vary, for instance domestics are immediate due on completion and with builders that use me it's fifteen days). I also provide a very small summary of the job that refers to the ref no on the quote (usually the first 3 letters of the customer name followed by a number that refers to the number of jobs i've done for them. So the third job for Mr. Jones is JON003) It details the price of the total works and if applicable the breakdown of the installment payments. And then it says at the bottom ' I Mr blah blah have read and understood blah blah blah' Then name, sign, date. File it, never look at it again. Just by producing it people don't give you any grief. It's professional and your backside is well and truly covered. Walk into petty debts, wave that piece of paper, bang, verdict your way.
I'd probably also produce a form that is a quality sign off that you can get the Project Manager to sign on every bathroom individually then another sheet, maybe call it Phase 1 for the first ten and get them signed off as a group. Link the phases to the payment installments, for instance the payment terms for payment on Phase 1 is 7 days after receipt of invoice and copies of the quality sign off. Phase 2 will not commence until payment of Phase 1 is made. Or whatever. Decide what you want and write it down. Get them to sign it and it's legally enforceable. It's proof then because the details are clearly there and both parties have signed it. End of problem! Good luck with the tender bru

 

[JLM Tiling]

Having said that I'm in Guernsey. Could be different, maybe call the Citizens Advice and ask if that's enough. Or contact the petty debts court and ask them if a letter like I said would be acceptable. They'll definitely have the anwer!

 

[STEVO]

thanks very much for those ideas. sounds just like what i need to do and will be sufficient i think.
cheers

 

[mz30]

Paul is the builder the client or is the owner the client?
If the builder is the client they will have you sign a contract as a subbie,If the owner is the client and you will be contracting to them ,hence you (besides giving them a contract)will probably have to supply them with a risk assesment a method statement and a copy of your public liabilty) to cover your own backside.

 

[andersontiling]

make sure you have t and c.Also establish payment terms and credit check the payee

 

[AMtek]

I always get everything in writing, down to exactly what work will be carried out. i had a problem customer a while ago that was constantly trying it on with regard to what work i had agreed to do in my quote, it got to the point where the job was completely finished and he was refusing payment untill i had mounted the mirror he had bought for the new bathroom, would have been a 5 minute job and if he had just asked i would have put it up for him, but instead i told him to get his copy of the contract and show me where it stated that fitting the mirror was covered in the price. no come back from him, 2 minutes later walked away with cash in my back pocket

 

[Mike Mike]

I'd be interested to know the outcome of this?? WHO requested you to quote, was it someone from the hotel, or the HQ of the hotel if it is a chain? Or was it a Prime Contractor? Or is this the back of a *** packet set up?

In my experience, if you're dealing with corporate procurement then they will issue you with a Purchase Order and Schedule of Works, acceptance criteria, a documented sign-off procedure and THEIR Terms and Conditions, which could include penalty clauses, attempts at holding you liable for consequential loss (a big no no when it comes to contracts), and will definitely describe payment terms, usually net monthly, or net 30 days (in practice means almost TWO MONTHS before you get paid, unless you negotiate stage payments).

I have also seen Prime Contractors try and sneak entire penalty clauses onto sub-contractor contracts i.e. if they have an overall penalty clause, which can be tens, or even hundreds of thousands, they may try and off-load all of that onto one sub-contractor who is only involved in a tiny portion of the project.

Advice? When presented with a contract from a corporate buyer / prime contractor pay a solicitor to review it and do not accept anything you could not afford in the event of a delay which they try and hold you liable for. This is what typical T's And C's from large purchasers might look like (and why a couple of hundred quid spent on a solicitor's interpretation is vital!) http://www.hse.gov.uk/sellingtohse/tandcservices.pdf

The general rule is you should never agree to liability in excess of what you are getting paid for the job, without prior written agreement from your own insurers. That's common sense right. You end up doing all that work and getting no money, which is better than doing all that work, getting no money, and being liable to pay them £100k. And your insurance company saying "nothing to with us pal, we never agreed to that".

If you are quoting for a large job (like 20 bathrooms in a hotel) and the buyer does not present you with a contract and T's & C's then alarm bells would sound for me.

 

[swanman]

Or better still just stick to small jobs