Contract advice - engineering for fabricator
Contract advice - engineering for fabricator
(OP)
Hi forum goers,
I practice in the state of California, where to my understanding, everyone is supposed to work under a contract. Normally I work for owners or architects, but this is a job I thought I had already negotiated that is now in jeopardy because the client wants to work via purchase orders.
Are there any engineers here that have done calcs and developed details directly for a fabricator? There is a lot of facade work here, so someone who's done something like that might enlighten me. I basically want to know if I just don't know the secret handshake to working with this sort of agreement, or if I'm negotiating with a fabricator who doesn't have a clue.
They claim they've worked with engineers before, under a purchase order agreement. I've not even seen it (the purchase order, or the precedent), so I don't know for a fact I should be worried. I've been in touch with my E&O carrier who seems to think I should be, but I think they mostly see typical A&E building contracts.
Many thanks in advanced for sharing your experience.
I practice in the state of California, where to my understanding, everyone is supposed to work under a contract. Normally I work for owners or architects, but this is a job I thought I had already negotiated that is now in jeopardy because the client wants to work via purchase orders.
Are there any engineers here that have done calcs and developed details directly for a fabricator? There is a lot of facade work here, so someone who's done something like that might enlighten me. I basically want to know if I just don't know the secret handshake to working with this sort of agreement, or if I'm negotiating with a fabricator who doesn't have a clue.
They claim they've worked with engineers before, under a purchase order agreement. I've not even seen it (the purchase order, or the precedent), so I don't know for a fact I should be worried. I've been in touch with my E&O carrier who seems to think I should be, but I think they mostly see typical A&E building contracts.
Many thanks in advanced for sharing your experience.






RE: Contract advice - engineering for fabricator
I have done it but the language had to be modified.
RE: Contract advice - engineering for fabricator
RE: Contract advice - engineering for fabricator
Purchase orders are geared to the supplying of goods, not services and are written under the Uniform Commercial Code in the US. It is difficult to modify the terms and conditions of a purchase order to fit professional services.
One thing you can do, since they are probably set up for accounting to only pay from a purchase order, is to provide your proposal with your terms and conditions, then have them reference your proposal on the purchase order and strike all the UCC provisions. That keeps their system intact and satisfies your E&O carrier.
Take a look at the attached booklet on contracts for engineers. You might find it to be helpful in this regard...
RE: Contract advice - engineering for fabricator
I've endured webinars on contract language that weren't as informative nor concise as this looks to be.
RE: Contract advice - engineering for fabricator
http://www.FerrellEngineering.com
RE: Contract advice - engineering for fabricator
RE: Contract advice - engineering for fabricator
I told the client they should be worried about an engineer who would.
RE: Contract advice - engineering for fabricator
Remember a couple of things about contracts.....
First they are intended to keep you from being invited to the party.
Failing that, they are intended to allow you to go home early from the party.
RE: Contract advice - engineering for fabricator
Garth Dreger PE - AZ Phoenix area
As EOR's we should take the responsibility to design our structures to support the components we allow in our design per that industry standards.