self employed advice please

[danthemanwhocan]

Hi people

I have been a labour only sub contractor climber and groundie) now for over a year. I work for a few companies and have my own insurance.

 

So far the only paper work that passes between me and the guys i work for is a invoice. All jobs I do are at a fixed price (verbal contract).

 

So I am wondering if I should be covering my arse more with a written contract detailing responsabilities, pay etc. Also have a few generic dislaimers in my work bag i can get the boss or customer to sign if I feel uncomfortable doing something Ive been asked too do. eg stump grind in a area where there could be underground fibre optic cables. Does anyone do this?

 

If anyone has any pointers, advice or links to reading material on this subject I and other 'subbys' would be very grateful.

 

Thanks!

[danthemanwhocan]

Does anyone know of any such templates I could download of the internet?

[benedmonds]

Does anyone know of any such templates I could download of the internet?

 

Help becoming an ARB Approved Contractor

 

The using subcontractors bits are the other way round but might help..

[Djvicke1]

Lately I did a small cash job with no paperwork for an retired Lady who has a terrible memory, I asked her twice if she was sure she wanted a small laurel removed and she told me twice to cut it down then later denied all knowledge of it, she was happy in the end but got me thinking that I had no proof of what had been agreed.

 

I usually do a formal quote and then an invoice after the jobs completed.

 

Lately I've been thinking of getting customers to sign some kind of paperwork just to say they agree with the quote and are happy for the work to be done on that date etc kind of like a permit to work? Does anyone do this kind of thing?

Does the quote act as proof?

Should I get them to sign the quote?

Also, do I need to do method statements?

[hamdogg]

If someone accepted my quote to do some works and then after I had done it, they say they didn't want it doing or denied all knowledge of it, the work would be the least of there worries!!

[javelin10]

@danthemanwhocan:

As a labour-only subbie I would expect insurance and liability for the workers and work being done to be covered by the principal contractor. Your insurance would only come into play if you, for example, injured yourself through your own fault and could reclaim lost income on your policy. This is only my opinion and I don't claim to be an expert; in fact I am in much the same situation as you now that my job has recently been made redundant!

 

For example: If you cut a fibre optic cable then your principal contactor would be responsible. If they then wanted to sue you to recover their costs then that is of course allowed but they would have to demonstrate they had showed you the cable route and you had ground it up anyway; negligence on your part in other words. Anyone disagree?

 

@Djvicke1:

I've been on the railway for many years, but in my first arb job my boss always used written job specs and had the customer sign them before work began. That forms the written contract between you and the customer and this is the way I'll be going if I start doing a lot of private work in the future. Even better, it was on paper with the common arb definitions (reduction, thinning etc) printed on the back so the customer cannot claim "I thought 30% reduction was when you reduced the tree in height by 30%" :-/

[Djvicke1]

Thanks javelin, that sounds like a good idea, I might start doing that also a good idea to have the terms on the back

[Chris Sheppard]

If someone accepted my quote to do some works and then after I had done it, they say they didn't want it doing or denied all knowledge of it, the work would be the least of there worries!!

 

Just curious; what would you do in that situation?

[hamdogg]

Just curious; what would you do in that situation?

 

 

A knock on there door to change there mind!!