Contractors realize that the success of their businesses rests on customer satisfaction. Certainly, pleasing clients should be high on any contractor’s list of priorities.
However, getting caught up in pleasing clients can inexorably chip away at the contractors’ profit margins. Read more below about how to stave off scope creep in your projects.
Strong contracts are best defense
The main problem with issuing boiler-plate contracts to clients is that these don’t always feature built-in barriers to scope creep on construction projects. While many contracts can be adapted to fit a contractor’s specifications, without a thorough legal review of the contracts issued to clients, you open yourself and your company up to litigation.
Clients always want options
Somewhere between the client’s request for additions or revisions and the terms of the contract lies a space where negotiations can be undertaken. If the client’s requests jeopardize your bottom line or time constraints, it’s perfectly acceptable to renegotiate a contract to accommodate both the client and the contractor.
Commit discussions to writing
Anyone can dispute the outcome of telephone or in-person talks between clients and contractors. But that becomes much more challenging to dispute when each discussion and encounter is followed by emails that summarize the discussion and state any concessions.
It’s precisely this type of evidence that can thwart a client’s challenges to a project’s terms. Recapitulating any objections or requests for expansion of projects establishes a paper trail that could prove pivotal if any litigation ensues due to contract disagreement.
Protect your and your company’s reputation
If you are unsure about how to proceed and deter scope creep, it’s always prudent to learn more about your legal rights and responsibilities.