Business-Customer Contracts

I have a business that I have operated now for about 2 years.

Lately, we have had jobs that have been requiring a lot of work, welding, and or high dollar amounts. I would like to get myself familiar with "contracts" for work to protect not only myself, my company, but my customer. Where would be the best place to start, or is there any place that has these pre-made where you can get them first of all "free", and or purchase them.

I am not asking for free advice, as I am willing to pay for it, but free is a good start.

Thanks for all your help!

You should start at a large brand name book store in the softback area of their law section and perhaps their business section. Look for a book with samples of contracts. Look also at books on how to run a business using contracts for service. Most of these places will let you sit in an easy chair and read the whole book. If one or two look particularly convincing as good tools for YOUR business, buy them. It is a cheap thrill to find samples of contracts used by others that you can replicate. You might also try looking at lawyer websites to see what kinds of lawsuits between businesses are being tried. These are invaluable to help you prevent similar circumstances being foist upon your fledgling business... and often, the scams in court are the ones they will try on you. Sometimes these lawyer websites will explain just how the damage could have been prevented.

Now, I'm going to suggest that if you are in a business where there is a lot of lawsuit action going on, you might want to get liability insurance. Then you should consider the intricacies of your business and think about hiring a lawyer to write non-compete agreements for your outbound employees and contracts that need more content than you find in your new books. The cost per contract is not all that bad when you consider the difficulties it might save you later... and you can come up with very clear contracts with no loopholes to protect your business projects and your revenue stream based on things you consider difficult situations... but you need to do your homework first. Lawyers will do exactly what you tell them to do. If they are really good, they will cost you an arm and a leg, but if they are less costly, YOU have to know pretty much what you need by checking out the business and legal entanglements you can find.

Good luck.

Thank you for the suggestions. Do you know of any online resources as well? I find myself behind a computer more than barnes and nobles...

You can search directly on the internet in the topic areas that you are interested in and get lists of the books available. The problem is that few book retailers give you a synopsis of the book online. You would need to see it to determine if it would help you.

Eh, no worries.

We got the bases covered.

*wink*