Working as a contractor for another company

[nnn]

In parallel with my thread on the pros & cons of insourcing & outsourcing, I thought it would be useful getting your thoughts on what works well (and what doesn't) when you work on a long-term contract for another company i.e. you work for XYZ Scaffolding, who have a three-year contract for ABC Manufacturing.

What does ABC Manufacturing do well and badly when manging the work/contract?

I'd be surprised if nobody mentioned maintenance work being delayed or brought forward at short notice, but what else does ABC typically do to make life difficult for XYZ and what could ABC do to make things run more smoothly? Ta!

 

[Havespannerwilltravel]

If it was ABC Construction and XYZ Scaffolding was providing a complete scaffolding service it would probably be nice if ABC could provide a reasonably accurate schedule that doesn't exist in the realms of fantasy.

 

[happyhugenoet]

It would be nice to be payed on time and without querie

 

[aom]

Nice, but highly unlikely.

I would say, just because you have scaffolders now on tap and pretty much an unlimited supply of material, jumping up and down with slevers coming from your mouth will not get the job done any quicker. Also, please bear in mind there is a direct correlation between the number of days late your payment is to the number of men and tonnage of material missing from your site. One last thing, don't, at the tender stage tell the scaff he is to price the contract on a certain tonnage of material then spit the dummy when he tells you the budget is burst despite nearly doubling the agreed amount, other than that get a 3rd party inspector in and nail your colours to the mast from the outset and it will be all plain sailing.

 

[Havespannerwilltravel]

In fact if you remove the client, difficult contractors, safety officers, the cost of fuel and materials, difficult scaffolders, expensive designers and late payments the scaffolding industry would be one of the best to be involved in!

 

[Binthere]

There is a lot of truth in old sayings - "If you want somthing done right then do it yourself".

Buy the materials, hire the scaffolders, arrange the insurance and away you go - simple's.