What happens you you become a customer of a business? In Bryony Thomas’ book “Watertight Marketing” she says that when you sign on the dotted line, or pop in your credit card details, it will often lead to you being sent a lengthy contract in legalese “to remind you that
The length (and contents) of your contract gives off so many first impressions to would-be clients. A contract that’s just a couple of emails risks not covering the bare minimum, and a long contract with in-depth legal stipulations may showcase a lack of trust. So what is the ‘Goldilocks measure’
In an average contract, you’ll see suppliers describe in detail exactly what they will do as part of the scope of works. But in a great contract, you’ll see suppliers describe what they won’t do. In this post, I focus on the importance of adding clarity to your contract to
There’s a certain honesty in this tick box: From a UX perspective, the lack of a link to the terms and conditions is an own goal – ironically, the page was part of the voting form for the Women in Legal Tech awards. According to research (New York Times) less
Do you really want to sign up to a contract that allows your client (or the main contractor) to keep taking work away from you and giving it to someone else? Contracts both entitle and oblige the provider to perform the whole of its scope – what I call a
What is the retention? Is it, as I have suggested, the contractor’s money which the employer is holding to ransom? Is it security for any defects discovered during the defects period which the contractor fails to put right? Is it a form of commercial leverage? In Yeovil v The Stepping
Any construction project (or product) can be stated to have a specific design life – normally listed in calendar years. Recent cases have reviewed if a design life is a promise ie an actionably duty or a mere statement of intent or desire: sinking wind turbines: a requirement for these
One of the respondents to my survey on the future of contracts told me (rather depressingly) that No-one cares about the contract. They just want the goods… But it is actually more nuanced. There are two different motives for two distinct stages: before signature: the parties are only focused on
I was chatting to Jeremy who havd reviewed one of my template contracts. He was fine with its content but said he would be even less formal in his contract/proposal; in particular he would use contractions. So where I had written I will he would use I’ll. I didn’t disagree
In my (unscientific) straw poll of attendees at a recent webinar on construction contracts, not a single person admitted to always reading every set of terms and conditions, or T&C. It’s hardly surprising. From the thousands of people who have been in my audience when I asked that question, in