New Home Contract

Glasshousebltr

It's been a few years since I wrote a new home contract, about 10. I'm at the end of the contract assessment phase, about 90% of the contract, and was wondering if you fellas had any input, or maybe a standard layout you use, I just altered my normal contract.

Bob

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Bob

mdshunk

You absolutely need a phrase that says that any design choices that aren't in the contract, fixture schedule, print notes, or on the prints are not included in the bid price. Remember, there's no such thing as "standard". People will try to rope you into installing colored bathroom fixtures and adding fancy cabinet hardware, etc. on your dime thinking somehow that this is an okay thing to do and it will be free. I'm on a job at this very moment in which none of the bathrooms were spec'd with a toilet. They note the vanity and tub/showers on the prints, but no document references the toilets. The plumber submitted a bid based on that, and summarily wrote up a nice change order for adding toilets. Pretty slick on his part.

Glasshousebltr

I estimated an allowance for fixtures, texture, floor coverings and a few other minor things, if they pop the budget, they'll be my slaves.

Bob

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Bob

realpurty2

Bear in mind, I'm only the office portion of this business and I have zero knowledge of contracting, so any further explanation of how allowances work will definately be of help. We currently use allowances for customer specified items but many times I've struggled how to correctly insert the allowance details into a written estimate or contract. Any suggestions? Maybe if I understood the concept a bit more, I can figure out how best to insert them into my documents.

Thanks a bunch.

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Woman in a Man's World.

Glasshousebltr

I just put in figure that covers me if I have to complete the item, then explain the allowance can be used at the customer's discretion. Most the time they just pay the dif between my number and their selected product.

Bob

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Bob

Grumpy

I do not build houses but from time to time it has become necessary to use allowances. Infact I think the only time we did this was on doors, since the price of a door varies from $100-5,000.

I wrote something to the effect of "The allowance for the door and hardware is $700 and is already included into our lump sum bid. If the cost of the door and hardware exceeds the allowance there will be additional charges equal to the difference between actual cost and stated allowance. If the cost of the door is less than the allowance, there will be a credit on your final invoice equal to the difference between actual cost and stated allowance. All material recipets will be provided upon the Purchaser's request."