After the excesses of the festive period the thoughts of many, myself included, turn to making resolutions to stop bad habits such as eating too much, drinking too much and exercising less than a Galapagos Tortoise. These resolutions rarely survive past the Australia Day BBQ when a burnt snag and cold beer prove more tempting than tofu salad and green tea. Resolutions, however well intentioned, fail as we are not sufficiently motivated to change our ways.
Whilst we generally under value our health and wellbeing it is usually a different story when it comes to money. Would you be so quick to indulge if someone was offering to pay you $500 for every kilo lost?
If the answer is no, I recommend you resolve to ditch the following common bad habits as they are likely to be costing you or your business far more than $500.
Not Reading the contract
There are almost as many different types of construction contract as there are card games. As with card games, the rules and complexity of contracts vary enormously from simple one page agreements to Public Private Partnership Agreements running to many volumes. If you have just finished playing a game of snap it is vitally important that you take time to prepare for a game of high stakes poker. Read the rules (the contract) or have someone prepare a summary of the key points for you (rights and obligations summary) and if the contract requires you to submit a notice in triplicate within three days to be in the game then that is what you should do or you will risk losing the shirt off your back.
Not keeping good records
Contractors, almost universally, believe they are the most honest and trustworthy people ever to walk the earth and are prone to displays of extreme indignation and horror when their $10M global claim supported by 2 bits of paper, a fancy graph and a cost statement is not paid in full.
Even if there is a high level of trust between Client and Contractor the reality is that in Australia we operate in a highly-governed environment with strict regulations and controls to prevent fake Tahitian Princes embezzling public authorities or Alan Bonds destroying shareholder value.
In the absence of agreed rates for additional work, Contractors are required to provide evidence of any additional costs incurred. Given that most variations and claims are valued after the work has been carried out (in some cases significantly later), it is vitally important that the Contractor maintains detailed records of the resources utilised to undertake the additional work and that where possible these records are agreed by the Client at the time (Contemporaneous records). These records generally include timesheets, diaries and delivery dockets.
In the world of game shows there is a well-known catch phrase that “Points make Prizes”. The equivalent saying in Contracting could well be – Records make Money
Roger Federer Emails
An email pops up in your inbox from that commercial manager who thinks he knows best and in the blink of an eye you smash a forehand cross court reply with added top spin. That email may win a quick point in the modern-day game of competitive contracting but such emails rarely improve relationships and commonly result in a hardening of overall positions that make it very difficult to negotiate good commercial outcomes in the long run. Far better to sleep on your response or at least wait until your pulse has returned to normal.
Better still, call the sender to understand the intent of their mail and arrange to have a privileged pint, confidential coffee or Chatham house Tea
Ditching the above bad habits will not help you lose weight, drink less or exercise more but with the money you save you will be able to afford a very good personal trainer!
Jon Davies
Principal of Brackenway Consulting
QS, Commercial Manager & Contract Facilitator