"The Contractor Fight" is what HGTV host and best-selling author Tom Reber calls the battle between your ears. We all have stories and experiences that have formed us into who we are. We are what we think, and the battleground is our mind. The Fight is not with the people you think are "cheap customers." It's not with the unlicensed competitors or the "illegals," as many contractors think. The Fight is with yourself. Sadly, most of the struggles contractors have are self-imposed. It's friendly fire. The negative ways we think about ourselves and our worth... friendly fire. The growing debt, working too much, small bank account... friendly fire. Winning the Fight is a choice. You're noble and full of integrity. You bend over backward to serve your family and clients. You have taken it on the chin more times than you can count. Now, it's time to get yours. Earn what you're worth. Create a business that serves you and energizes you, instead of one that beats you down. Choose to own your crap and get better today.
Risk, and the headaches that go wit it, have always been a major part of any construction project -- risk of loss, negative cash flow, construction claims, regulations, excessive changes, disputes, slow pay -- sometimes you'll make money, and often you won't. But many contractors today are avoiding almost all of that risk by working under a construction management contract, where they are simply a paid consultant to the owner, running the job, but leaving him the risk. This manual is the how-to of construction management contracting. You'll learn how the process works, how to get started as a CM contractor, what the job entails, how to deal with the issues that come up, when to step back, and how to get the job completed on time and on budget. Includes a link to free downloads of CM contracts legal in each state.
The definitive contracting reference for the construction industry, updated and expanded Construction Contracting, the industry's leading professional reference for five decades, has been updated to reflect current practices, business methods, management techniques, codes, and regulations. A cornerstone of the construction library, this text presents the hard-to-find information essential to successfully managing a construction company, applicable to building, heavy civil, high-tech, and industrial construction endeavors alike. A wealth of coverage on the basics of owning a construction business provides readers with a useful "checkup" on the state of their company, and in-depth exploration of the logistics, scheduling, administration, and legal aspects relevant to construction provide valuable guidance on important facets of the business operations. This updated edition contains new coverage of modern delivery methods, technology, and project management. The field of construction contracting comprises the entire set of skills, knowledge, and conceptual tools needed to successfully own or manage a construction company, as well as to undertake any actual project. This book gives readers complete, up-to-date information in all of these areas, with expert guidance toward best practices. Learn techniques for accurate cost estimating and effective bidding Understand construction contracts, surety bonds, and insurance Explore project time and cost management, with safety considerations Examine relevant labor law and labor relations techniques Between codes, standards, laws, and regulations, the construction industry presents many different areas with which the manager needs to be up to date, on top of actually doing the day-to-day running of the business. This book provides it all under one cover – for the project side and the business side, Construction Contracting is a complete working resource in the field or office.
Life has become an endless series of contracts—this is the manual. There’s no reason to risk your hard-earned money signing a contract you don’t understand. With Contracts: The Essential Business Desk Reference, you get easy-to-understand explanations for every common contract term. In no time, you’ll grasp mysterious concepts like “force majeur,” “indemnity,” and “time is of the essence." Contracts: The Essential Business Desk Reference is more than just an A–Z explanation of over 300 terms. It also includes: common negotiating strategies examples of contract provisions sample contract clauses and entire contracts examples of illegal and dangerous contract clauses what to expect if you or the other side breaks a contract up-to-date explanations of electronic contracts, and tips on amending and modifying agreements. Whether you’re starting a business, signing a lease, hiring a new employee or independent contractor, licensing a concept, selling a boat, or contracting for a new fireplace, Contracts: The Essential Business Desk Reference can help. A must-have for small business owners, entrepreneurs, lawyers, and law students—and anyone else whose success is built around understanding and negotiating agreements.
This book surveys the main rules of Company Law governing the making of contracts with companies. It adopts an economic perspective, examining these rules in terms of the risks they apportion between companies and parties contracting with them. It reviews the use that has been made of economics in the analysis of Company Law and considers what guidance this can provide in analysing corporate contracting. The book then examines the relevant law and the issues raised by this law, covering the role of corporate constitutions as the source of the authority of corporate agents, the mechanisms of corporate activity and decision-making, the identification of corporate contracting parties, pre-incorporation contracts and other contracts with non-existent companies, the contractual power of a company's board, the protection of parties dealing with subordinate corporate agents and the regulation of contracts in which a director has a conflict of interest.
International Business Contracting is designed to teach business and law students how international business contracts are structured and drafted. After several introductory chapters on international business, legal issues, and contract law, the material walks the reader through a series of agreements between two fictional companies--one an American company, the other a business located in a European civil law country. The transactions begin with a sale of goods and then progress to international distribution arrangements, a joint venture, a stock acquisition, and a secured commercial loan. Each chapter opens with a description of the new arrangement between the two parties, followed by a form of contract for their business deal, a point-by-point critique of the contract, and an examination of relevant business and legal issues. While the typical textbook in this field emphasizes theoretical analysis, International Business Contracting takes a highly innovative approach by showing how a commercial relationship is put into writing. In an ideal situation a business contract will reflect the intentions of the parties, allowing them to carry out their activities while protecting them against business and legal risks. If poorly drafted, however, an agreement may create confusion and unnecessary problems. The book explores what constitutes good drafting, often by showing imprecise or ambiguous clauses. Standard contract provisions, referred to as "boilerplate," are examined in detail. In addition to analysis, the book offers negotiation and drafting exercises, so the student can gain "hands-on" experience in how international business executives and lawyers carry out their work. The textbook is designed to permit professors in different departments or universities--even in different countries--to offer parallel courses, with teams of students negotiating with counterpart teams via videoconference. The teacher''s manual offers guidance as to how such coordinated courses can be structured, along with sample syllabi and class notes. "The materials included in both the International Business Contracting book and the Teacher''s Manual are highly innovative and particularly suitable for modern legal teaching methods. The text clearly benefits from the authors'' rich experience in academia and in legal practice. The sequence of chapters, like the approach of their contents, enables the reader or student to develop varying skills, including a better knowledge of a sophisticated and diverse area of law, case analysis, negotiation and drafting abilities. This is in my view a good example of how legal training and learning will be approached in the near future, in a global and delocalized world." -- Manuel Alba, Associate Professor of Commercial Law, Carlos III University of Madrid (Spain) "This comprehensive set of materials, developed and refined by Steve Sieberson and Bruce King over many years of teaching, represents a great step forward for the field of International Business Contracting. Fourteen years ago, I was fortunate to have Steve as my collaborator when we established an International Contracting course linking students at the University of Tokyo and the University of Washington. With the publication of this book, students and teachers across the U.S. and the world will be able to benefit, just as my students and I have." -- Daniel H. Foote, Professor of Law, The University of Tokyo and The University of Washington "International Business Contracting is a unique entry into the rather crowded field of texts related to International Business Transactions courses. In addition to the standard material on the law affecting international business relationships, IBC provides a thorough analysis of, and well-designed negotiation and drafting exercises related to, contracts that document these business relationships, such as a sale of goods, an international distribution arrangement, a joint venture, a stock acquisition, and a secured commercial loan. Intended for use in both law and business curricula and as both a primary text for IBT or as a text for a stand-alone IBC course, the text allows law and business students to develop highly desirable practice-related competencies, while the Teacher''s Manual contains suggestions for syllabi, detailed class coverage, and innovative collaborative opportunities as well as commentary by two experts in the field." -- Becky L. Jacobs, Professor of Law, University of Tennessee College of Law
In the twentieth century, large companies employing many workers formed the bedrock of the U.S. economy. Today, on the list of big business's priorities, sustaining the employer-worker relationship ranks far below building a devoted customer base and delivering value to investors. As David Weil's groundbreaking analysis shows, large corporations have shed their role as direct employers of the people responsible for their products, in favor of outsourcing work to small companies that compete fiercely with one another. The result has been declining wages, eroding benefits, inadequate health and safety protections, and ever-widening income inequality. From the perspectives of CEOs and investors, fissuring--splitting off functions that were once managed internally--has been phenomenally successful. Despite giving up direct control to subcontractors and franchises, these large companies have figured out how to maintain the quality of brand-name products and services, without the cost of maintaining an expensive workforce. But from the perspective of workers, this strategy has meant stagnation in wages and benefits and a lower standard of living. Weil proposes ways to modernize regulatory policies so that employers can meet their obligations to workers while allowing companies to keep the beneficial aspects of this business strategy.
Digital transformation is reshaping the business arena as new, successful digital business models are increasing agility and presenting better ways to handle business than the traditional alternatives. Industry 4.0 affects everything in our daily lives and is blurring the line between the physical, the biological, and the digital. This created an environment where technology and humans are so closely integrated that it is impacting every activity within the organizations. Specifically, contracting processes and procedures are challenged to align with the new business dynamics as traditional contracts are no longer fitting today's agile and continuously changing environments. Businesses are required to facilitate faster, more secure, soft, and real-time transactions while protecting stakeholders’ rights and obligations. This includes agile contracts which are dynamically handling scope changes, smart contracts that can automate rule-based functions, friction-less contracts that can facilitate different activities, and opportunity contracts that looks toward the future. Innovative and Agile Contracting for Digital Transformation and Industry 4.0 analyzes the consequences, benefits, and possible scenarios of contract transformation under the pressure of new technologies and business dynamics in modern times. The chapters cover the problems, issues, complications, strategies, governance, and risks related to the development and enforcement of digital transformation contracting practices. While highlighting topics in the area of digital transformation and contracting such as artificial intelligence, digital business, emerging technologies, and blockchain, this book is ideally intended for business, engineering, and technology practitioners and policy makers, along with practitioners, stakeholders, researchers, academicians, and students interested in understanding the scope, complexity, and importance of innovative contracts and agile contracting.
Today’s business environment is constantly evolving, filled with volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity and driven by digital transformation, globalization, and the need to creating value through innovation. These shifts demand that organizations view contracting through a different lens. Since it is impossible to predict every what-if scenario in a transactional contract, organizations in strategic and complex partnerships must shift to a mindset of shared goals and objectives built upon a strong foundation of transparency and trust, working together to mitigate risk much better than merely shifting risk to the weaker party. Contracting in the New Economy helps you to not only develop this mindset – but also offers the practical tools needed to embrace the social side of contracting, enabling your organization to harness the value creating potential of formal relational contracts. Briefly sharing the theoretical foundations that prove relational contracting works, it goes well beyond theory by providing powerful examples of relational contracting principles in practice. In addition, the authors provide a practical and proven approach for helping you to put relational contracting theory into practice for your own relationships. First by providing a framework for approaching any contracting situation and helping organizations finding the best contract model for each situation. And then by sharing five proven steps you can take to create an effective relational contract for you own strategic and complex business relationships. For anyone involved in developing contracts —lawyers, in-house counsels, contract managers, C-level managers, procurement officers, and so on — this book will empower you to create powerful cooperative alliances that will help you reach —and surpass — your business goals in today’s dynamic new environment.
