Do you require them? Enforce them? Involve legal counsel?

When it comes to contracts are you the ‘don’t leave home without one’ type or does the thought of requiring a contract for every job you do make you laugh? According to POB’s unofficial survey, a majority of surveyors require contracts under some circumstances, if not all the time. In fact, 76 percent (37 out of 49) of those who responded to our survey said they did get a signed contract always or sometimes (47 percent always, 29 percent sometimes). The circumstances that seemed to demand a contract in most surveyors’ minds were large, expensive projects and first-time/non-regular clients.

When it came to preparing those contracts, surveyors were split as to whether or not they involved legal counsel. Only 12 percent responded that they always involve legal counsel in contract preparation, several stating they had a lawyer review their standard contract. Fifty-three (53) percent responded that they never did and 16 percent said they did sometimes, usually when the contract was prepared by the client.