Posts Tagged ‘contracts’
|Don’t divorce your contractor!
Thursday, March 4th, 2010
Firing a c
ontractor in the middle of a project is like getting a divorce: it’s ugly, and it’s expensive. Dishonest contractors know something you might not: once work commences, your project is no longer desirable for any other contractor. If you’ve been talking to contractors, just ask them how they would feel about taking over a contract that was stopped in the middle of work from which the previous contractor was fired. You might be surprised to hear—EVEN IN THIS ECONOMY—what the answers are. Add to it that most likely if you fire a contractor that you will not feel like paying them as much as they feel is owed to them at that point, so they will likely slap you with a mechanic’s lien and law suit, and you’ll want whoever takes over the project to help your counter-suit by acting as an expert witness for you. You’re now asking for them to volunteer to be embroiled in a law suit. Thanks, can I get a side of kick-in-the-teeth with that? (more…)
Tags: Construction, Contractors, contracts, homebuilding, law suits, negotiating, residential, termination
Posted in Contractors | No Comments »
Time, Tide, and Loyal Clients
Thursday, February 25th, 2010
There is a saying, (well, it’s more than a “saying” but anyway…) that every Plebe learns at the U.S. Naval Academy, and it goes, “Time, Tide, and Formation wait for no one….” It’s something that I learned when I was a Plebe, and it has stuck with me throughout my professional life. Time and tide (or weather) wait for no one; that is self-evident. Similarly, clients, if they are to be loyal clients, will not wait for slow contractors. When forced to wait, loyal clients become angry clients. Here is some general advice on how to approach the important question of time with a contractor. (more…)
Tags: bid, builders, building, Construction, Contractors, contracts, estimate, homebuilding, negotiating, remodeling, residential, scope, time
Posted in Construction, Contractors | No Comments »
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