Contracts & Agreements

I'm about to sign and the amendments are unread

A standard form "with amendments" and nobody has listed what they change.

There's a contract in front of me, unsigned

The document has arrived, the job is real, and I'm being pressed to sign something I haven't fully read.

I'm being asked to start on a letter of intent

The contract isn't agreed, the programme won't wait, and a letter of intent is on the table.

I'm about to sign and the payment terms worry me

The subcontract is on the table and something about the payment clauses doesn't sit right.

I'm negotiating blind

I know some clauses matter more than others; I don't know which ones are worth the fight.

I know what's wrong and they won't accept my changes

I've pushed back on the worst clauses and the other side keeps returning the same draft.

The risk I take on has to go down the chain

My subcontracts should mirror what I've signed up to, and they don't.

We're about to sign and nobody can summarise it

Five hundred pages, and no one page that says what the dates, the notices and the deductions actually are.

The amendments have stretched our payment terms and nobody flagged it

A standard form with the final date pushed out and the notice windows shortened, agreed because nobody read that far.

The contract says nothing about when we get paid

Where the terms are silent the Act fills the gap, and the dates we have been working to are not the dates we are bound by.

Nobody has read the defined terms

A capitalised word means whatever that section says it means, and one redefined term changes how a clause you thought you understood actually works.

We agreed the job in a message thread and the paperwork never followed

Price, scope and payment settled on a phone is a contract. It is just not one anybody can administer.

We carry the design liability for a design we weren't allowed to make

Design and build, with a specification that dictates every detail and leaves the risk with us.

The payment clause is lawful and behaves like pay-when-paid

It never says the words, and the money still does not move until somebody upstream has been paid.

Their set-off clause reaches into our other contracts

A deduction earned on one job can land on this one, and we signed it.

Our subcontracts don't say how an application has to reach us

No form, no route, no named recipient, so anything that turns up has to be treated as an application.

It's a bespoke contract and we're running it like a JCT

Two hundred pages that look familiar, administered on habit, until the day somebody actually needs the clause.

Contract Selection & Review

Risk mitigationFixed FeeFor Subcontractors & Main Contractors10 working days

I read the contract you have been offered before you sign it, tell you in plain English what it actually commits you to, and hand you the fixes already drafted, from amendment schedule to tracked redline and covering letter.

Pre-Contract Payment Terms Review

Risk mitigationFixed FeeFor Subcontractors, Main Contractors & Clients5 working days

I review your subcontract's payment terms before you sign: the traps found, the fixes drafted, in plain English.

Contract Clause Negotiation Support

Risk mitigationFixed FeeFor Subcontractors & Main Contractors10 working days

I support you through the contract negotiation after a review, drafting the responses to the other side's mark-ups and keeping the deal memo current so what was agreed does not drift before signature.

Subcontract Drafting & Placement

Risk mitigationFixed FeeFor Main Contractors10 working days

I draft and place the subcontract after tender, keeping the terms back to back with the main contract where they need to be, capturing the tender's clarifications in the order and chasing execution so works do not start on an unsigned draft.

Subcontract Order Particulars

For Main Contractors

The particulars of the order checked back to back against the main contract before it is issued, the tender clarifications captured into it, and the executed copy chased until it is signed.

Get it signed before the works start

Make the terms back to back where the risk has to pass down

Write the tender clarifications into the order

Place it on a form your team can administer

Keep a deal memo and update it after every exchange

Set your fallback before you ask, and hold to it

Watch later drafts for clauses that were meant to be dealt with

Check the execution copy against what was agreed

What does it mean for a subcontract to be back to back?

It means the subcontract passes down the obligations you carry upstream, so a risk you can be charged for by the employer can be charged on to the subcontractor who caused it, with no orphaned risk between the two.

Should I use the main contract form for my subcontracts?

Usually no: use the subcontract form that matches your main contract, which is built to sit beneath it, rather than the main contract form itself, which is written for a different relationship.

Can I avoid a letter of intent when a package must start early?

Usually yes, and it is worth the effort: a short but complete subcontract, executed quickly, is almost always a better answer than a letter of intent when a package needs to start before the full order is ready.

What does a commercial contract review cover that a legal one does not?

A commercial review reads the contract for what it does to your cashflow, programme and risk in practice, in plain English with the amendments worth asking for; a legal review reads it for enforceability and legal drafting.