Wise Up Wednesday: Don’t be Bullied!
Arrogant Bullies!
The arrogance and bully boy tactics of some Main Contractors and indeed some of the very largest Sub-Contractors is staggering. They think that they can treat you like dirt and that you have no alternative but to accept their bullying.
The Contract
Some Contractors will use every trick in the book to introduce onerous terms, or remove the important qualifications you have put forward, or deliberately increase the scope of your works without telling you. Others are just so incompetent that the documents are a complete shambles.
If you do query this you are given short shrift and told; “take it or leave it there is another Subbie waiting to do the job”.
The Delays
Once on site, the usual story is that you will be constantly delayed and disrupted throughout the project.
You don’t issue notices advising the Main Contractor what has been preventing you from carrying out your works. either because you fear upsetting the Contractor or you think it will spoil your relationship, or lead to other problems.
The Contractor does little or nothing to change things or release areas holding you up.
The Completion Date Draws Near!
Suddenly, the Contractor realises that the Completion Date is nearly here and someone somewhere gets a grip of the job and starts to get things done.
Usually, this takes the form of flooding the job with labour so that all of a sudden lots of areas become available to you all at once.
Of course the Contractor wants men in every single area, and seeks to bully you into accelerating the works for free.
“YOU HAVE TO, YOU MUST, YOUR FAILING, WE WILL DEDUCT DAMAGES” screams the Contractor who has suddenly changed from a friendly guy into some sort or crazed monster!
No doubt because his boss has threatened him with the loss of his job if he doesn’t get this one over the line!
You Don’t Need That Much Time
Suddenly the Contractor expects activities that were allocated a perfectly reasonable amount of time in the original programme, to be be rushed through and done in a fraction of the time.
Except that they can’t…
You know they can’t, and if the Contractor was being reasonable he would agree that they can’t.
Why else would they have been allocated the time they were in the original programme?
And if you agree to this madness and things don’t work out whose fault will it be?
Absolutely spot on – it will be your fault!
Don’t Allow Them To Bully You…
As a Specialist Contractor you shouldn’t allow yourself to be rushed or bullied into accepting onerous terms. There won’t be another Subbie prepared to do the job otherwise they wouldn’t be talking to you!
And don’t accelerate your works without ensuring that your contractual rights are protected. This may mean that you upset the Contractor or Client, but better that than finding yourself on the wrong end of a very onerous and expensive problem.
Getting Free Advice
Not all free advice is good advice. But when you talk to us at StreetwiseSubbie you get initial free advice from genuine experts, who are already helping over a hundred Specialist Subcontractors, who get that advice as just one of their many StreetwiseSubbie Membership benefits.
And, as a Buddy (as we call our members), if you need to go beyond the free advice, discounted rates apply.
Please check out the Membership Options, or give us a call on 01773 712116, or email info@streetwisesubbie.com and we will be happy to explain the benefits.
I hope you enjoyed my Wise Up Wednesday email and that it gave you some food for thought – I sincerely hope to speak with you soon.
Best regards,
Barry
P.S. Please remember if you have a problem, take action sooner rather than later. If you’re not sure what to do or just want a second opinion, please give us a call on 01773 712116, or email info@streetwisesubbie.com (please do not click reply to this email).
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