Can you review our subcontract before we sign it this week?
Yes, if the timing works: the review takes 5 working days, and where the diary allows, we quote a faster turnaround in writing.
Updated: . By Jack Butler-Kettle, Construction Claims Consultant.
The answer
Tell us the date you are asked to sign by on the first call. The working days start when we have the agreed scope and the documents. If the signing date is close, or a clause could cost you heavily, we raise it with you the day we find it. We never hold it back for the finished review. We read the subcontract as offered, with every amendment and every document it pulls in, against your quote. We find every clause that moves money or risk onto you and rate what each could cost you. After one call through the ratings, you choose what to push back on. We then write the amendments to ask for and a short negotiation note in your name. You also get a list of what to price in for every clause that stays. And you get a one-page summary of the dates and duties for your team. Send the subcontract as offered, the schedule of amendments, the documents it pulls in, your quote and the emails about the terms. The fee is fixed, agreed in writing once we have seen the subcontract and the documents it pulls in. Questions of legal effect go to your solicitor, and whether you sign is always your decision.
Example
Illustrative example. The scenario and figures are invented.
The facts
A groundworks subcontractor is asked on a Monday to sign a £710,000 subcontract by the following Monday. It tells us the date on the first call.
What happens
- The subcontractor sends the subcontract as offered, the schedule of amendments, the main contract terms passed down, its quote and the emails about the terms.
- We raise a pay-when-paid clause and uncapped delay damages with the subcontractor the day we find them.
- After one call through the ratings, it chooses four clauses to push back on. We write the amendments, the negotiation note and the list of what to price in.
The outcome
The subcontractor goes back to its main contractor before the signing date, knowing what the subcontract would commit it to. The amendments are written in its name, and the cost of every clause that stays is in its price.
To have the subcontract reviewed and the amendments written before you sign, see our Pre-Signing Contract Review service.