Contractural/legal question...
Discussion
Bit long winded so please bear with me.
I’m posting this for a friend who owns a scaffolding company.
He tendered for a job last year along with two other firms and won the job.
He was then issued with a Purchase Order by the QS of the construction company.
A few weeks went by and he didn’t hear anything else, so he called the company and asked if the start date was likely to move because he needed to mobilise his men, order some new equipment etc.
The Project Engineer told him that the QS had since left the company and should not have issued the PO without permission from him, and he would need to speak to his boss.
Few days later my friend gets a call from the Project Manager. My friend said this guy was really pissed off that he had been given the order without him knowing about it, and said something along the lines of “If I had known about it, you would never have been given the job. I would have used one of the Big scaffolding companies in London. But, you have got the PO now, so we’ll go with it”.
He then asked my fried for all his insurance details, method statements, risk assessments, Health & Safety policy, etc.
My friend gave all the requested information.
Another few weeks go by and he receives a letter from the Construction Company saying that the job has been put back and he will hear from them in the future.
A long time after, he gets another latter saying that because 90 days have passed, the Purchase Order was being cancelled, and that he would be invited to tender for the job again. Obviously he was very pissed off about this – he had put a lot of time into the job (he accepts that he had to put work into the tender at risk, but once he had the PO, all work after that as far as he was concerned was covered by the PO).
He received yet another letter a week or so later saying that the job was being cancelled all together.
He has since found out they have used another method to lay their cables, and did not use scaffolding.
So, is the Purchase Order worth anything? And does he have grounds to sue them for the £60k value?
He is speaking to a solicitor about this, but I thought Id’ get the opinions of the PHer’s.
Thanks for reading, and all advice appreciated.
Hoppy
I’m posting this for a friend who owns a scaffolding company.
He tendered for a job last year along with two other firms and won the job.
He was then issued with a Purchase Order by the QS of the construction company.
A few weeks went by and he didn’t hear anything else, so he called the company and asked if the start date was likely to move because he needed to mobilise his men, order some new equipment etc.
The Project Engineer told him that the QS had since left the company and should not have issued the PO without permission from him, and he would need to speak to his boss.
Few days later my friend gets a call from the Project Manager. My friend said this guy was really pissed off that he had been given the order without him knowing about it, and said something along the lines of “If I had known about it, you would never have been given the job. I would have used one of the Big scaffolding companies in London. But, you have got the PO now, so we’ll go with it”.
He then asked my fried for all his insurance details, method statements, risk assessments, Health & Safety policy, etc.
My friend gave all the requested information.
Another few weeks go by and he receives a letter from the Construction Company saying that the job has been put back and he will hear from them in the future.
A long time after, he gets another latter saying that because 90 days have passed, the Purchase Order was being cancelled, and that he would be invited to tender for the job again. Obviously he was very pissed off about this – he had put a lot of time into the job (he accepts that he had to put work into the tender at risk, but once he had the PO, all work after that as far as he was concerned was covered by the PO).
He received yet another letter a week or so later saying that the job was being cancelled all together.
He has since found out they have used another method to lay their cables, and did not use scaffolding.
So, is the Purchase Order worth anything? And does he have grounds to sue them for the £60k value?
He is speaking to a solicitor about this, but I thought Id’ get the opinions of the PHer’s.
Thanks for reading, and all advice appreciated.
Hoppy
Swilly said:
If your mate can establish he does have a contract then it seems the other party has breached it and your friend may be in a position to sue for the lost profit.
OTOH i would suggest your mate saves his time and money and get on with his business....
But were talking big bucks here.OTOH i would suggest your mate saves his time and money and get on with his business....
Fair enough, there would be a risk involved if it went to court, but if there was a good chance he'd win, worth the gamble surely?
MikeyT said:
Okay he put time into the quote, but once he got the PO, what other 'time' has he expended? If he had bought equipment etc on strength of the PO for this job he may have a claim, but I'm thinking if he hasn't then he probably hasn't if you get me.
As far as I know, he hasnt bought any equipment, but he did make several trips from Portsmouth to London after he had the PO.Adrian W said:
He sent an order, provided you are acting wthng your Terms of sale raise the invoice.
100% cancellaton charge, don't negotiate
He's speaking to a solicitor this afternoon.100% cancellaton charge, don't negotiate
when he did so on he phone, the solicitor seemed to think the PO was a legal conrtact, and they were in Breach of said contract.
Hoppy2008 said:
Swilly said:
If your mate can establish he does have a contract then it seems the other party has breached it and your friend may be in a position to sue for the lost profit.
OTOH i would suggest your mate saves his time and money and get on with his business....
But were talking big bucks here.OTOH i would suggest your mate saves his time and money and get on with his business....
Fair enough, there would be a risk involved if it went to court, but if there was a good chance he'd win, worth the gamble surely?
Secondly, work out cost incurred since being awarded the contract and sue for it plus the profit.
Slikk said:
Move on and forget it. He wont get a penny - after all, apart from a quotation what has he supplied?
Only a small amount of time, admittedly.But he won the job, only for the company to "f
k him off".I think my friend is of the impression, the boss was pissed at not knowing what was going on, so found a way out of it.
If he thinks he can sue and win, he will.
Hoppy2008 said:
roboxm3 said:
Did your friend sign and return the Sub-Contract / PO?
If so did he receive his signed copy in return?
I dont know, TBH. I'll ask him.If so did he receive his signed copy in return?
Nice RM (i think ?), BTW. Used to have a couple myself.
Either way I would tell your friend to check the small print in the tender enquiry documentation and sub-contract / PO.
I would be very surprised if there wasn't a number of clauses relating to the termination of a contract etc.
ps. thanks, it's a KX-F.....the yellow ones (RM-Z) don't like to start so I've heard.
roboxm3 said:
Hoppy2008 said:
roboxm3 said:
Did your friend sign and return the Sub-Contract / PO?
If so did he receive his signed copy in return?
I dont know, TBH. I'll ask him.If so did he receive his signed copy in return?
Nice RM (i think ?), BTW. Used to have a couple myself.
Either way I would tell your friend to check the small print in the tender enquiry documentation and sub-contract / PO.
I would be very surprised if there wasn't a number of clauses relating to the termination of a contract etc.
ps. thanks, it's a KX-F.....the yellow ones (RM-Z) don't like to start so I've heard.
p.s. D'oh! I'm colourblind (really). Looks yellow to me.
Zeek said:
I expect he would have to have turned away a load of other work on the basis of having this contract if he was going to get anywhere.
Also, it isn't like they went and used another scaffolding firm instead, so I wouldn't hold out any hopes of recovering anything.
Two things that have sprung to my mind also!Also, it isn't like they went and used another scaffolding firm instead, so I wouldn't hold out any hopes of recovering anything.
cheers, Ill pass it on.
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