In a series of articles for journals and LinkedIn, I have outlined my view of contracting as a process, rather than treating contracts as stand-alone documents and their creation as drive-by events. A contract process maturity model This is a tool designed to refine this idea and future-proof your contracting
What is a watertight contract? In my view it is like the pot of gold at the end of a rainbow – we’d all like it to exist, but it doesn’t. Recent examples like Pimlico plumbers, Uber and Oakhurst diary have shown how so-called watertight contracts have been leaking at
Getting a contract wet signed (pen & ink) is becoming increasingly difficult when many clients are virtual, businesses do not have offices, and the cost of postage outweighs the benefits. In the construction industry, parties often start with the intention of getting a signed contract, but these good intentions are
This post sets out the legal requirements and 4 bare minimum content essentials for a construction contract. Even where all of those exist, the courts sometimes decide there is no contract because all the essential terms were not agreed. The terms on which the parties were [of one mind] must
A US$60m project for a luxury Caribbean resort came to a sorry end for many hundreds of disgruntled customers. Even if your project does not involve cabanas, windswept beaches or multi-million pound deals, you can learn from the lessons of Harlequin and its contractor. Setting the scene The ‘startling features’
Alan Sugar once said: I have always been an honest trader. I come from a school of traders where there was honour in the deal. No contracts, just a handshake and that’s it, done. That’s the way I prefer to do business… Can You Contract with a Handshake? looked at
As David Chappell says: it is difficult to think of any other cause responsible for more difficulties and disputes in construction contracts than the employer being in a hurry Construction Contracts Q&A, 2011 There are 3 approaches to letters of intent: Follow the guidance from eg the RICS, CIOB and
Although you cannot avoid mandatory legislative requirements, such as the right to suspend or claim interest for late payments, some unscrupulous payers include unenforceable conditions, perhaps hoping the other does not know the law?! Another vexatious approach is to make compliance with a legal right almost impossibly tricky, creating hurdles
Which should come first: works or contract? Well you might expect me to say the contract but here’s why… The defective car park In 2001, two companies were trying to agree the terms for a long-term agreement on a variety of projects. One of those projects was in a hurry,
Ever since the first standard form contracts were published, there has been a plague on the construction and engineering industries… a plague of contracts. The first construction standard form appeared in 1879 and the first engineering contract in 1903. Fast forward 100 years and we have industries which are unrecognisable