Contracts is probably my favorite part of law thanks to The Paper Chase. “The doctor promised to give the plaintiff a similar to before the accident, skin-grafted, fully-functional hand. Instead, he provided a dysfunctional, hairy hand…” And it was first–I lost a case in it a long, long time ago. The experience was worth it. I learned contract law. And I got an answer.
The best part is, it is predictable. There are rules and not just precedents. From there it is just reading, and as they say in journalism, paying attention to every word; if you don’t know what it means, look it up. It is, almost, something for which you don’t need lawyers, and/or, they cannot mess it up. It is relatively self-explanatory, with the right evidence.
In this case we have an exterior building or contracting company. They probably do an OK roof like many other firms or individuals but they use suspect subcontractors, let them do what they want, and then expect the customer to live with it. Costs and regulations have increased and a roof and gutters can be a very large expense: the stakes, i.e., dollars, have become higher.
There is an old saying in marketing: don’t cut out the middleman. Well, I’m not sure about the AI definition… I think what it really means is beware of people who think they are smarter than everyone else. In this case that means cutting out the person responsible, the on-site supervisor and customer’s representative, by going directly from salesperson to ad hoc, unsupervised, third party subcontractors. Add to that misinformation (a friendlier word than “lies”) and misguided contract bullying and there is a real problem. The subcontractors don’t need to worry about, deal with, or even listen to the customer. (In fact, some can’t, given a language barrier.) They have their materials and defined task and don’t take instructions from the customer. I dislike the expression: it is what it is.
Try it, it may work! There is a downside.
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