Maybe for you....
If you do not pay me you will have to pay both my and my attorney's invoices. If you sign my contract you not only agree to pay me, you also agree to pay for the liens and legal fee to secure payment in the event on non-payment. If you do not have a contract, if you didn't have a contract attorney review your contract, then you better be prepared to get burned.
Jim & padenCash I recommend having a consult with your attorney to discuss how to minimize your risk of non-payment. Me, I will be fine.
Maybe for you....
> If you sign my contract you not only agree to pay me, you also agree to pay for the liens and legal fee to secure payment in the event on non-payment.
That's the other thing about Fortune 500 companies: they don't sign your contract, you sign theirs. Once again, unless you offer a service that's unavailable elsewhere, you play by their rules or you don't play.
Maybe for you....
Litigation is always an option. I retain counsel and have for several years. It's definitely worth the bucks. About 75% of the accounts that I 'let the dog out on' pay up with apologies. It helps to have a 'junk yard dog' attorney, too.
This particular project is delicate because the 'owner' of the property is my largest and bestus :love: client. The project is a large wind-farm that is actually being all subbed-out by private investors. The utility company retains ownerships of all their 'facility' locations.
I'm not all informed as to the "project structure"...yet. It's best to choose your battles. I won't aggressively pursue any escalated action until I'm sure of all the factors that are involved. Collateral damage is always a possibility when your lobbing in mortar rounds at random.
Maybe for you....
I guess I am lucky enough to not have to play that way. I do work for some VERY big companies and they sign my contract because they pay their bills. I am not saying that I do not have some clients that pay this way, it is and industry norm for some weird reason... So I assume everyone does?? Those clients I keep becuae they do have work, but I also charge them on the front end because it would be stupid not to.
Maybe for you....
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Jim Frame is right, after working with a Large Surveying/Engineering firm for a few years. You do sign off on their contract and no retainer. The thing I've learned from working with them is, their P.M. is powerless once the contract has been signed but you can work with him on changing the terms in the contract. I never agree to help them go after any portion of the bill they submit to their client. I do not agree to get paid when their paid. Each company has their own little terms in there that I either can or can't live with. The time to change them is before you start work. They all have lawyers on hand that will either agree to the new terms or say no go. I've walked on a few jobs because I couldn't live with something in the contract and lost no sleep. A couple of companies have used my contract because it's pretty boiler plate and say's what I'll do and when it will be done. It hold's my feet to the fire also.
It goes both ways, I had a small guy in another state I'd contracted with for boundary/topo for our engineering. I used him because the only P.S. from that state the partner in charge of surveying and engineering and I both knew he wouldn't get the job done in time. They submitted their bill with the deliverables and the secretary took the bill submitted it to AP and a check went out the door. The next day I got the package on my desk and they had screwed the pooch. Half of what was in the contract to be located wasn't, shots on 25 grid were gotten on a 100 grid and no pins set on the boundary. I had no way of going back on them as they weren't returning my calls. Legal said it wasn't big enough ($7,500 back then) to go after so I had to send one of my crew's out Thanksgiving week and corral the boss long enough to review the boundary work to get pins set. $7,500 turned into $16,000 real quick. And it was my fault somehow.