03/ 12/ 2002
by Jeffrey Moses
Barbara (who asked that her full name not be mentioned in this article) recently completed an extensive remodeling of the small building that she is now using as an office for her real estate company. She hired a general contractor for the extensive work, which included moving a few walls, installing cabinetry, shelving a new restroom for customers and more.
The contractor guaranteed all work done for one year after completion. But now, six months after the work was finished, Barbara is having trouble with the wood flooring that was installed. It's warping near the entry and becoming unsightly.
Unfortunately, she's found herself in the midst of a battle over who should fix it. Since Barbara special-ordered the flooring, the contractor says he is not responsible for it, because he didn't supply the material. He recommended she call the person who installed the flooring, who quickly backed away from responsibility by saying he can't be certain whether the material itself was faulty. Barbara called the manufacturer that supplied the flooring and was informed that they, too, would not be able to back any guarantee of the material, because it was not installed by one of their own contracted workers.
So it's likely that Barbara may have to come up with the cost of entirely replacing the flooring, even though she thought all the work was fully guaranteed.
How could she have avoided this time-consuming and potentially costly situation? By not overlooking the "What if?" factor for guarantees. Put simply, this means that when entering any type of contract work or partnership, you should always examine every item to see which party is ultimately responsible.
In Barbara's case, she could have used the "What if?" factor to determine the ultimate responsibility for the flooring. Since her contractor, by definition, was responsible for guaranteeing every other aspect of the remodeling, Barbara could have pinpointed the one item that the contractor didn't supply. By asking "What if?" she would at least have known her responsibilities from the beginning.
The "What if?" factor must be applied to every aspect of contract work or work done in association with others. If there is even the slightest possibility that something could go wrong with a specific activity--and if the parties involved wish the successful conclusion of the activity to be guaranteed--the issue needs to be addressed before the contract is signed.
The types of items to be considered vary from industry to industry, but the "What if?" principle works for them all. While the list of items that the "What if?" factor covers is too lengthy to include fully, a few include:
- Omissions of work
- Faulty or incomplete work
- Product failure or irregularity
- Financial obligations
- Missed deadlines
- Inability of a party to uphold his or her obligations
- Price increase of supplies or suppliers
- Adherence to pre-determined design
- Use of pre-determined materials or brand names of materials
- Duration of guarantee after completion of work
