If you have started a carpentry business and are concerned your terms and conditions are unsuitable for your growing business, this article will help you address those issues. Creating terms and conditions for your business can appear daunting at first. However, once you understand the basics, writing terms and conditions can quickly become second nature. Ultimately, it is essential to have terms and conditions. They act as legally binding documents between you and your customer. This article will highlight some key clauses that you should include in your terms and conditions for your carpentry business.
Terms and Conditions for Carpentry Businesses
As a carpenter, you will likely be working on a variety of jobs, from fixing a door to working on the structure of houses. This can be problematic, as it is almost impossible to create a set of terms and conditions that will apply to all situations you find yourself in.
For example, you might be working on a job for a few days where you need to buy additional material. However, your usual supplier cannot supply you with the material due to a disruption in their supply. In this instance, the price of that material may increase should you obtain it from a different supplier. To account for this, you should include in your contract that the price you charge for that material may be subject to change. However, keep in mind that the price changes must be reasonable and necessary. If these changes are unreasonable, your customer may be entitled to terminate the agreement with you.
Another example is accessing a house to work on a staircase inside.
Therefore, as a carpenter, you have two options when deciding on what terms and conditions to include in your contracts:
- Create a comprehensive set of terms and conditions that will cover you for all eventualities imaginable; or
- Create terms and conditions that are specific to certain jobs.
Essential Clauses
Quote
Before commencing the work, you should clearly outline the services or products you will provide. It is crucial to ensure your customers understand what you do and do not provide.
You should use the quote to ensure your customer’s expectations match the services or products you will provide.
Price and Payment
It is important to set out the prices and how a customer can make payment for the services and end product you offer. This should include the payment methods available and if work is done in stages, how payment will be made and under what time frames.
Time
You may face delays in completing the work you have agreed on with your customer. This can be a result of external events outside your control, such as natural disasters. It is prudent to cover yourself by including a clause that allows for time extensions in these circumstances.
Defects
You will need to cover what will happen if your customer discovers a defect with the work or if you are unable to comply with the quote. You should have an opportunity to inspect the defective work after being notified by the customer.
Access to Property
You may need to access the customer’s property to complete the work or provide the services. Accordingly, it is important to ensure that you can access the property as reasonably required and safeguards are in place.
Warranties and Guarantees
Under the Australian Consumer Law (ACL), there are mandatory warranties and consumer guarantees you must provide. You can also provide further warranties to your customer. Warranties must be carefully detailed in your terms and conditions to inform your customers of their rights. There are also building regulations in each state or territory that will set out obligations need to comply with as a carpenter. You will also need to obtain the relevant licences in some states and territories. For example, if your business is in New South Wales, you will require a licence before you do any residential building work that is valued at more than $5000 (including GST) in labour and materials.
Furthermore, if you plan to set up your carpentry business online you will need to fact in additional considerations.
Employees
Terms and conditions should also extend to your employees. Employment contracts are extremely important to limit your liability and ensure you meet the safety standards within your business. It is always advisable that you receive legal advice for these contracts, instead of creating them yourself or copying the contracts of another business. You might save money initially, but you may also open yourself up to unnecessary liability and claims of copyright infringement.
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Key Takeaways
As a carpenter, you work on a vast variety of jobs, from commercial to residential, indoor and outdoor, small and large. Therefore, there are several terms and conditions you can include in all your contracts. However, adapting them to match your needs can prove difficult, if not impossible, on your first attempt. As a result, it is advisable that you first speak to a lawyer to ensure that you will not incur any liability as a result of your contracts.
If you have further questions or need help drafting your terms and conditions for your carpentry business, our experienced contract lawyers can assist as part of our LegalVision membership. For a low monthly fee, you will have unlimited access to lawyers to answer your questions and draft and review your documents. Call us today on 1800 534 315 or visit our membership page.
Frequently Asked Questions
It is important to have terms and conditions in place to protect your business and your relationship with employees. Terms and conditions limit your liability and provide certainty to your customers of their rights.
Essential clauses include access to property, defects and time. In this line of work, you will likely need access to the property where you will undertake the work. It is also prudent to have safeguards if defects are found with the work or if a time extension is required due to external circumstances.
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