Does Your Industry Have Problems that Come Up Over and Over?
Some industries have problems that happen again and again. Construction has a handful of things that go wrong so often that the U.S. Government created some if-then clauses that go into virtually every government-funded construction contract.
For example: If the actual conditions on a job site differ materially from the contract documents, then the contractor is entitled to recover its additional costs of dealing with the differences. The contractor is also entitled to add time to the project completion date, if the schedule is affected by the differences.
Consider Adding If-Then Clauses to Your Contract.
Regular readers of my blog posts know that I am a fan of concise contracts that contain only the essentials. One of my all-time favorite posts was the 6/12/19 Does that Really Need to be in my Contract?
If-then clauses are truly essential in construction contracts.
I have recently seen some good if-then clauses in residential Real Estate contracts. Home inspections have become a staple part of the home-buying process all over the U.S. These inspections seem to cause (or at least reveal) some fairly common problems.
Here’s an example an inspection and repair clause:
If the inspection reveals the need for material repairs, then the seller will make the repairs within X number of days and the buyer has Y number of days in which to evaluate the repair work. The repairs are deemed accepted if the buyer doesn’t make the required evaluation.
Conclusion
If your industry has a history of certain types of recurring problems, then please have a savvy business lawyer (licensed in your state) tailor your sales contract to add the right if-then clauses.
Michael Oswald
Please note: the above post contains educational information. It is not intended as legal advice. Engage an attorney who is licensed in your state to get advice on dealing with any specific legal issue.
© 2019 Michael S. Oswald
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