What Contractors Need to Know About Contract Provisions, General and Supplementary Conditions
The OGCA believes that information is power and having accurate, clear and understandable information in construction contracts could be the difference between success or potential bankruptcy. Recently, the members of the OGCA have tabled a considerable number of tender issues to the association and have requested assistance in removing, clarifying or qualifying onerous language from tender documents. The onerous, dictatorial and one-sided style of tender terms and provisions are only going to increase as the buyers of construction continue to attempt to download all responsibility onto our general contractors.
Since contract terms have such an overall impact on our members, and contactors should always be cognizant of the terms they are agreeing to in all of their contracts, the OGCA has launched this information section in our newsletter, and all articles will also be archived on our website, to educate the members on any and all of the onerous and potentially harmful contract language. The overall purpose of this section is to assist our contractor members in navigating the complex and at times, convoluted world of construction contracts.
Every issue will yield new information for our members to properly arm themselves in their contract negotiations and provide members with the potential consequences of not addressing onerous, dictatorial and one-sided contract terms. The goal of this section is to provide contractors with clarity and to encourage our members to read and fully understand the contract terms they are potentially agreeing to when signing construction agreements.
The OGCA welcomes all of our members to reach out to me directly at giovanni@ogca.wpengine.com should they want any of the following:
- If they come across any tender and/or contract terms that may be onerous, dictatorial or one-sided
- If they have a potential topic that may affect all our members and would like more information
- Any APP members that want to provide potential articles that may assist the contract members
Watch for the new section entitled Clarity in Contracts in the next newsletter, as well as on the OGCA website. In the meantime, here is a first article from McMillan on Indemnities and Limitations of Liability.