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<blockquote data-quote="TJ Cornish" data-source="post: 35268" data-attributes="member: 162">Re: Contractual obligations (rant)Our agreement is very simple - I am an hourly consultant.&nbsp; Period.&nbsp; I&#039;m not the general contractor, a subcontractor, employee, or anything else in any capacity.&nbsp; He is free to fire me at any time (though he is obligated to pay me for whatever time I worked pre-firing, should he ever choose to fire me, which seems attractive sometimes), and other than my personal ethics, I am free to walk away from the project at any time.I believe the other ace up my sleeve, should I ever need one, is that many items have not been constructed according to my design specifications, so this really is his system (his employees did 90% of the install work - my labor has pretty much been Visio drawings that get ignored, soldering, and DSP programming). I&#039;ve tried to make it work the best I can, but this issue has contributed significantly to cost overruns, in addition to some compromises in the final performance of the system (towers pointing the wrong way, wrong height, amp racks 14&#039; in the air accessable only by extension ladder, etc.)If I can ever nail him down on specific design goals, we have a chance of saving the situation (assuming he pays me first).I would be a little more hard nosed about this except for my relationship with the AE and the fact that effectively he and I are in this boat together.&nbsp; Other than my longstanding relationship with the AE and the assurances by both him and the owner that this will work out fine, I would never have accepted this arrangement, as I&#039;m very aware of the perils of &quot;dotted line&quot; org charts.It&#039;s easy to go on a forum and say &quot;I would only accept a lawyered up, signed in blood, all the responsibility goes on the other party, payment in full in advance, batteries not included, etc.&quot; agreement (and I&#039;ve said just that, I&#039;m sure), but life is about relationships, and at some level it&#039;s impossible to get rid of all risk.&nbsp; If I thought I would have needed a professionally drafted agreement because the liklihood of getting screwed was high, I would have never taken the job, as bad business is not better than no business.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="TJ Cornish, post: 35268, member: 162"] Re: Contractual obligations (rant) Our agreement is very simple - I am an hourly consultant. Period. I'm not the general contractor, a subcontractor, employee, or anything else in any capacity. He is free to fire me at any time (though he is obligated to pay me for whatever time I worked pre-firing, should he ever choose to fire me, which seems attractive sometimes), and other than my personal ethics, I am free to walk away from the project at any time. I believe the other ace up my sleeve, should I ever need one, is that many items have not been constructed according to my design specifications, so this really is his system (his employees did 90% of the install work - my labor has pretty much been Visio drawings that get ignored, soldering, and DSP programming). I've tried to make it work the best I can, but this issue has contributed significantly to cost overruns, in addition to some compromises in the final performance of the system (towers pointing the wrong way, wrong height, amp racks 14' in the air accessable only by extension ladder, etc.) If I can ever nail him down on specific design goals, we have a chance of saving the situation (assuming he pays me first). I would be a little more hard nosed about this except for my relationship with the AE and the fact that effectively he and I are in this boat together. Other than my longstanding relationship with the AE and the assurances by both him and the owner that this will work out fine, I would never have accepted this arrangement, as I'm very aware of the perils of "dotted line" org charts. It's easy to go on a forum and say "I would only accept a lawyered up, signed in blood, all the responsibility goes on the other party, payment in full in advance, batteries not included, etc." agreement (and I've said just that, I'm sure), but life is about relationships, and at some level it's impossible to get rid of all risk. If I thought I would have needed a professionally drafted agreement because the liklihood of getting screwed was high, I would have never taken the job, as bad business is not better than no business. [/QUOTE]

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