COVID AND ITS IMPACT ON SUPPLY AND WORKERS
Price volatility
Most, if not all, plumbers have been living with the nightmare that is regular price increases for materials caused by the COVID Building Boom. They seem to be coming up weekly. If you have a fixed price contract (whether it is with a builder or with a consumer) and you are hit by a price rise after the contract is signed, you will have little if any chance of recovering the increase in price from your customer. There are ways to soften the blow and we can prepare some clauses for your contracts that allow you to pass on a price increase. Remember however that this can be a difficult thing to sell to your customer.
Staff impacts
Anyway, there is another effect of COVID which is now starting to emerge following the opening up of our borders. COVID is hitting plumbers and their staff. If you suddenly find yourself short staffed because you have a number of people down with COVID, you will need to tread very carefully contractually. Fixed time contracts (where you have to finish your work by an agreed date) are not uncommon and many of those contracts will not allow you to have an extension of time if you have staff shortages. If you are in doubt about this, give us a call and we can work through your contract terms and see if there is an angle for you to obtain an extension of time. If you don’t have a right to an extension for staff shortages in your current contracts, you really should be looking to introduce clauses that give you that right for future jobs. It is too late for those contracts that are already underway but for jobs where the contract has not been signed, get us drafting for you. After all, COVID will be disrupting life as we know it for some time to come and you need to do your best to protect your business from the effects of this dreaded virus.
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Contracts – get it in writing!
On the topic of written contracts, it is now more than ever vital that you have them. The days of a simple quote are gone. Written contracts provide certainty to both parties about things like: • Price • Variations • Timing • Defects A written contract is like a road map. It is much easier to get to your destination – the end of the job – when you have one. You really must have a contract of your own and we can help you with that but also if you are given a contract to sign for a job, you should really get it checked. We can help you with that too. We see too many cases where a client has signed a contract without really reading it and later they find that it is really skewed against their interests. A good contract should balance the interests of the parties and allocate risk appropriately. Now, more than ever, written contract terms are vital to keeping your business safe. The advice in this article is of a general nature and should not be relied on. If you need specific advice or assistance with access to adjoining land then call us as we can help. You won’t be charged for an initial consultation on any new issue.
Michael Hutton Partner Lynch Meyer Lawyers Ph: 8236 7612 Email: mhutton@lynchmeyer.com.au
