Contracts are for everyone.

Many years ago I was hired to do a remodelling job for a customer at a set price. I was new to running a business and never drew up a contract. I did the job that I was hired to do, everything went well, it looked great, but I had given the owner an estimated time that I figured it would take to complete the job. I worked extra hard on the project and finished it in half the amount of time that I had estimated it to take. When I called the owner to let him know I had completed the job, he was surprised I had finished it so soon. I scheduled to meet with him and his wife at the job site the following evening to get paid. When I arrived, they had been there for a while and had the chance to look over all that was done. They both were very pleased with the work and complimented my work repeatedly. I presented the bill to them and asked for the money due, which we had agreed to before work was done. He looked at it and said, I can not pay you this amount as you finished it in half the time, I will only pay you half this amount. At that moment, I learned a valuable lesson about contracts, they are for you as much as they are for your customer. Contracts are for the protection of both parties, without one you are screwed. I spent nearly 3 hours arguing with this customer and got no where, except that I was unhappy with them and they no longer liked me. I lost in two ways, one I did not get paid fairly for the work I did and two I had a customer that would never recommend my service to anyone else. Had I written the contract and had them sign it, I would never have had to spend all that time in argument, I would have been able to file a claim on it which I definitely would have won. My lesson-- always write a contract, no matter how much you may trust the party you are working for.

How things have changed

Not that long ago if I needed to make a phone call, I had to jump in the truck and find the nearest payphone. I would carry change for just that occasion. I wrote up all my invoices, bids, estimates and proposals by hand. I would draw up plans with paper and pencil. I would take pictures, then wait till the film was used up in the camera before taking it in to be developed. Then I might wait a week to get the pictures. My office consisted of a telephone mounted on the wall, the kitchen table, paper and pencil. Checks were written by hand. Times have changed. Now I have a desktop computer and a laptop, laser printer, picture printer, fax machine, scanner, digital camera, shredder, 4 cell phones, and more emails than I can handle. Software has eliminated so much work to minutes with chief architect, quick books accounting, picture programs and the list goes on and on. I now do my banking online without writing checks. Every resource available is at my fingertips. I remember thinking that our ancestors had it rough without running water and electricity, now my grandchildren think I had it rough without the computer age. If things have changed this much in 20 years, just think what the next 20 will bring.