Loading…
17
My old bookkeeper in Toledo called my service contracts 'decorative' and it stung enough that I rewrote all 14 of them
Back in 2022 I was running a small HVAC outfit out of a rented garage in Toledo and I had these one page service agreements I'd copied off a template site for like $29. I thought they were fine. Then my bookkeeper, a retired lady named Deb who did books for contractors for 30 years, looked at one and just said flat out, this thing wouldn't hold up if a customer ever sued you, it's decorative. That word bugged me for a week straight. Turns out my contract said work would be done 'in a timely manner' with no dates, no payment schedule, no limit on what I was on the hook for if a part failed later, and no clause about who owns the old parts I pull out. I paid a local business lawyer $450 to go through all 14 contracts and we added a scope section, a payment due date with a late fee, and a liability cap. Cost me a little to fix but I sleep better now. Deb was right and I hate that she was right. Has anyone else had a contract get picked apart like that, and what was the one clause you wish you'd added sooner?
1 comments
Log in to join the discussion
Log In1 Comment
laura48614h ago
Learned the hard way that a contract without a payment date is just a polite suggestion.
9