A friend of mine – not an attorney – wants to get a generic legal form to use as a contract for a roofing contractor. He logically believes that any contract offered by the contractor will be biased, and he would like to flip the bias, if any, to his side, just in case.
We’d like to get something cheap and simple. This shouldn’t require the services of a lawyer. My friend found a likely web site, but almost got roped into paying ridiculous bucks for questionable material, so that was a mistake.
An editable PDF or DOC file would be best, but we can always print a blank form and fill it in on paper.
Any suggestions where we can get such forms safely?
I know you’re asking for a friend. Really. But for expository simplicity I’m going to write as if you’re the audience, not your pal. …
My late first wife was an attorney. She’d be screaming “Tell him to go back; it’s a trap!” right now. “DIY law is a nuclear minefield!” But these folks do a good business in DIY legal, have for decades now, and have a good reputation in that arena:
I do not know whether they have exactly what you want.
Another approach is to get the roofer’s contract and dig through it for obvious heads-I-win-tails-you-lose clauses. Then just fix those.
Getting the roofer to sign a non-standard contract may be a non-starter too. Whether that’s one you come up with or an amended version of his. If they’re a big company you stand no chance; it’s their contract or no contract. For a one-man shop you’re on a more even footing. But if so remember he’s a roofer, not an attorney himself and is just as scared of your unfamiliar contract as you are of his.
Probably worth exploring this acceptability issue before spending too much time or money chasing what will turn into a dead end. But perhaps an educational dead end.
I don’t understand what you are looking for and I suspect you don’t, either. There are ‘boilerplate contracts’ for various specific agreements and actions, but there is no such thing as a “generic legal form for use as a contract,” and it really doesn’t make sense to look for this because what a contract is doing is establishing the intention to enter into an agreement regarding the exchange of money, property, goods, or services with the specific terms of the exchange including liabilities, obligations, ongoing support or maintenance, terms for abrogating or cancelling the contract, and penalties for doing so.
If you think there is ‘bias’ in a contract offered by the roofing contractor—and I guarantee anyone offering a contract is going to have some ‘bias’ to protect their interests—the best thing to do is to review the contract and highlight any conditions that you wish to alter, and if you don’t understand or contest any point discuss with a lawyer who understands contract language. No contractor is going to want to take some ‘generic’ contract written up by a non-attorney that binds them to some ambiguously worded conditions that will be subject to interpretation.
NOLO is a good source for boilerplate contracts and legal guidance for specific things like residential rental/lease but for what the o.p. is asking I don’t know that you’ll find anything useful. Honestly, the o.p.’s friend is dubious about whether the contractor is going to do good work or honor a warranty they should probably go try to find a contractor with a known reputation because even if a good contract only provides that you can (maybe) win a judgement against a contractor but not that you can make them redo the work to standard or make them pay for damages. Good contractors live and die on their reputation for doing and standing by their work; shitty contractors dissolve their business, escape liability, and then just restart under another name.
If he hasn’t already he should find a contractor who agrees in principle to sign an external contract before he spends any money at all on this… Because who would agree to such a thing? I’m genuinely perplexed.
I’m not a lawyer but I work for a business that provides services. Our contacts lay out the inclusions and exclusions that are budgeted into our pricing, viable for us to deliver, and reasonable, and cover all the elements required under law for our industry specifically and for all other relevant consumer laws.
We’d have to pay to have an external contract checked to make sure it was compliant under law and didn’t exceed the boundaries of what our services include. That would be a stupid expensive for us to cover when we already have a contract that covers all the things.
Boiler Plate contracts are exactly what we are looking for. Many decades ago, you could get a book of standard legal forms from a bookstore for very little cost. Obviously it’s entirely the responsibility of the user to make sure it is what they want. If my friend (no, it’s not me) wants to take the chance, I think that’s his business.
I’ll try the NOLO press route. Years ago I used one of their self-help books and I think they are very good.
IAAL. I do not recommend that your friend look for something boilerplate. Because something might not be stated that should be stated. There are too many examples to mention here, but I hope you can see that a layperson’s home-drafted contract can contain pitfalls.
You can bet that your roofer’s standard form “fill in the blank” contract was drafted by a lawyer, not by a layperson, such as you or your friend. It may be biased in the roofer’s favour, or it may not, but you should always have the option of having a lawyer of your own choosing review the contract, and let you know just what it says. (Hint: If the roofer does not give you the chance to review the contract with a lawyer of your choosing, hand the contract back and say “No, thanks.” Then look for another roofer.)
I did this a few times, before I became a lawyer, and it was worth every penny in the end. As a lawyer, I’ve been asked to review contracts myself, and for such things as employment contracts or home repair contracts, it typically takes 60 to 90 minutes for the review and the consultation. Some lawyers have a reasonable flat rate for such things as contract reviews. Call around and find one; never be afraid to ask about a lawyer’s fees.
One thing you should know about: the contra proferentem rule. This common-law rule states that any ambiguities in a contract will be resolved in favour of the party who did not draft the contract. In other words, if you draft the contract, any ambiguities (and if a layperson drafts it, there will undoubtedly be ambiguities) will be in the roofer’s favour. You don’t want that to happen. But on the other hand, any ambiguities in the roofer’s contract will be resolved in your favour. See how it works?
Best approach: get an estimate for the roofing and a copy of the roofer’s contract, take the contract to a lawyer, see what the lawyer says, and decide from there.