The first element in my STAR analysis is Scope. When reviewing a contract, it is critical that the obligations of both partners are clearly set out. Often the provider – the company providing the goods, materials, and plant or carrying out the works or performing the services – gets all
One of the issues I have grappled with is whether a contract can result in project success. Can your terms encourage the project team to meet its objectives (the carrot approach) or do they merely provide remedies in the event that those objectives are not met (the stick approach)? If
In most contracts, there is a balance to be struck between 3 key aims: time, cost and quality. It is impossible to have the best of all three. The British Library project is a great example of when the decision-makers chose quality as their priority, sometimes without thinking about the
One of the hardest items in a contract to draft effectively is any limit on your liability. Some of the reasons are: they get a lot of focus in the courts who interpret them strictly i.e. the court will only allow you to rely on a limit if it is
Too often, when negotiating contracts or revising T&C for a client, no-one really knows why a clause is there or what it is meant to do (like the architect with his net contribution clause), or what values their contract is trying to portray. I rarely come across these sort of
You can use your contract to describe what you want to happen if something happens which is outside the original contract: you can include delay damages if the provider is late you can include a mechanism to change the scope if the client changes her mind you can include a
When writing your contract, you should create clauses which are certain. It is one of the five essential elements for a binding contract (see What You Need). The courts will not enforce a clause or term if they cannot be sure what it means. Limiting Your Liability In Trebor v
The final element in my STAR analysis is Risk. Risk v Reward When reviewing your contract, you need to strike a balance between risk and reward (harm v benefits). Risk is inextricably linked to price and cost. If your deal seems too good to be true, it often is! In
In researching terms and conditions, I came across a Report from the Office of Fair Trading (2011) on Consumer Contracts. The Report recommends that consumer contracts are written to be open, welcoming and fair. The same applies to B2B contracts. Be open The Report defines open contracts as ones where:
In 2013, you couldn’t fail to be aware of the debate going on in the media as a result of the announcement from Carillion that it was going to extend its payment terms for subcontractors to 120 days. Buy why does it matter so much? Cashflow is king As far