AboutPeter M. Elliott Expertise First response to queries regarding extensions of time, variations orders, site instructions and payment using FIDIC and other forms of Conditions of Contract, based on English Law, and derivatives only.
Experience Value . . .
It's unwise to pay too much, but it's unwise to pay too little. When you pay too much you lose a little money, that is all. When you pay too little, you sometimes lose everything, because the thing you bought was incapable of doing the thing you bought it to do.
The common law of business balance prohibits paying a little and getting a lot. It can't be done. If you deal with the lowest bidder, it's well to add something for the risk you run.
And if you do that, you will have enough to pay for something better.
. . . John Ruskin (1819 - 1900)
"We are too poor to buy something cheap"
.Romanian Proverb 2002
A lean compromise is better than a fat lawsuit.
George Herbert (English poet 1593-1633)
I said it in Hebrew, I said it in Dutch,
I said it in German and Greek:
But I wholly forgot (and it vexes me much)
That English is what you speak!" Hunting of the Snark - Lewis Caroll
Match your presentation to the reader!
The joy of food lasts but an hour, of sleep but a day, of a woman, but a month, but the joy of a building lasts a lifetime. Syrian proverb.
Comments and observations leading to improvements in the translation of FIDIC Red & Yellow books into Romanian prior to approval by FIDIC (reference 'Preface to the Romanian edition')
I am writing this for my husband. He is a contractor who has been building new residental homes for a local builder for the last 14 months. In Nov of 2004, when the last job was completed, my husband spoke with the builder ( who he has been working for exclusivly since beginning) and the builder informed my husband that he has a new house for him to start in a week and half or so, this then changed with problems due to weather. They spoke again about two weeks later, and again the builder informed my husband that he ( my husband) did in fact have the house. We waited for a few weeks, and then called the builder about the house. To date we have had no response from the builder what so ever, my question is, since all these conversations were with witnesses, and we did wait on the builder due to his promise of work, can we sue for breach of contract, even though it was verbal only?
Answer Hi Lisa,
Of course you can sue for breach of contract, but would you win the case? If you did win the case, would you recover enough money to pay for your lawyers? If you did sue, would anybody employ your husband again?
Contracts do not have to be in writing to be enforceable, but what exactly was your contract, and how will you prove it? Witnesses are notoriously unreliable and frequently disagree on the facts of the matter. Did the builder say that your husband would build the next house, when it started, when he had finance, when the order was confirmed, when the weather was suitable? It is unlikely that you will help either yourself or the local builder by starting a court case; much better to have a quiet chat with the builder to see what is the cause of the delay and if you can help in any way. Construction is cyclical and affected by both weather and finance. Delays are endemic. The sad fact of construction is that projects get built and finished, despite rumours to the contrary, and we have to find a new project and a new client or employer.
If your husband is good, then I would suggest that he finds alternative work and keeps in touch with, rather than hassling, the builder. I never get upset if a client changes his mind and delays the start of a project. I keep myself busy until he is ready to start and, if I have a better client when he is ready, there are no hard feelings.
