A few years ago, I was speaking to an audience at an RICS event and someone asked how he should proceed to write a contract if he didn’t trust ‘them’ (also known as ‘the other side’). I was momentarily stunned into silence – a rare and unusual occurrence for me!
The retention is a separate ‘pot’ of money, which increases in line with the price paid to the contractor. Retention is the contractor’s money which the employer kidnaps and holds to ransom until the end of the defects period. According to the 2017 BEIS research paper retention is “is a
The 2018 TSB online banking saga has once again highlighted the issue of wriggle room in contracts. Wriggling in court Before specialising in advising on contract strategy and writing/negotiating contracts, I had the pleasure of winning a case in the Court of Appeal. It involved what I call ‘advanced wriggling.’
This is the best contract I have ever received if at any time you are not happy with my services, we can walk away and I will not charge you. It said everything I needed to hear succinctly and clearly. Your contract needs to state the scope of your services,
In ‘The Four Agreements’ Don Miguel Ruiz introduces the wisdom of the Toltecs. Given the title and my specialism, my attention was hooked into how it related to contract law and contract negotiation. He says: “Language is the code for understanding and communication between humans. Every letter, every word in
Do your contracts demonstrate your honesty and trustworthiness? There are more than 50 ways to lose credibility and trust (read more) but if you want to be the right sort of company to do business with, read on. Read the full edition here » It’s snowing here, but it feels
In his Forbes article (the Most Valuable Business Commodity: Trust), David Williams proposed that trust within an organisation existed when 9 behaviours or actions were evident. Six of these apply as much to a construction supply chain as to any member of that supply chain. The behaviours are signs of
My fortnightly tips are intended to build your confidence in the skills you need to write, understand and use contracts. After a couple of bad experiences with clients who turned my trust into trouble, I decided there had to be another way to run my business. My decision to work
Most contracts, whether in the construction industry or not, are based on a ‘bilateral’ relationship i.e. two legal people working towards a common goal. This is the bare bones of contracting. As the proud stoker of a tandem for the last 18 years, the analogy between tandem cycling and contracting
Dy Lynda Shaw in her book Your Brain is Boss says: So often we do not see or hear accurately what someone is trying to communicate, because we get the gist and fill in the gaps according to our own experience and perception so far. You may recognise some of
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