Anyone got a non-compete clause that they would share?
blue
“…
keep looking for customers who want to hire YOU.. all the rest are looking for commodities.. are you a commodity ?… if you get sucked into “free estimates” and “soliciting bids”… then you are a commodity… if your operation is set up to compete as a commodity, then have at it….. but be prepared to keep your margins low and your overhead high….”
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Replies
very few are valid....
just a few things i know about them
they have to be the first thing signed between parties.... because they usually only cover what you teach or what they learn from you.... not something that can be tossed into place years even days later...
you have to compensate them.... ie: for $100 cash in hand i agree to..........
very hard to tell what people already know vs what you teach them or what they learn from you...
they are common in buy outs .... but they must have limits... in time or in distance...
a poorly written one is worth squat... and a well written one is just something full of loop holes for those looking for them... one never knows how a court will look at how one party tries to keep another party from try'n to feed his kids...
"why quibble over the details of a contract you don't intend to honor anyway"
think hitler said that.....
p
I want a non compete clause for a subcontract arrangement, not an employee arrangement.
I understand the difficulty involved in enforcing one and I'm a big believer in handshake deals, but I'd just like one signed...just for kicks.
blue
"...
keep looking for customers who want to hire YOU.. all the rest are looking for commodities.. are you a commodity ?... if you get sucked into "free estimates" and "soliciting bids"... then you are a commodity... if your operation is set up to compete as a commodity, then have at it..... but be prepared to keep your margins low and your overhead high...."
From the best of TauntonU.
I have no direct answer to that but would like to say i have heard of this and seen everyone doing this not follow through, I see them go back into biz under someone else's name or just ignore it. Just an observation
Yeah, difficult to make them valid, if a high-powered attorney challenges them. Mostly it just helps keep honest people honest.
The person agreeing must receive something of value (eg, subcontract payments) in return. You can't, eg, saddle individual employees of the subcon with the clause unless they individually are receiving something of value and individually sign.
Gotta be for a limited (& specified) time and scope of business -- you can't forbid them from going into Amway sales, eg, just because you choose to do so after the clause is signed.
Edited 5/13/2007 2:40 pm by DanH
Dan, I kinda doubt that either framing contractor will be able to afford a"high-powered attorney" lol. We're talking about Carpenter framers here.....you know, the guys that have been scratchin for four years now....
Thanks for the followup thoughts though.
I'll just be putting a one line statement together....I know a "high powered" lawyer can "beat" it, but both of us ( the framer and I) will know what the agreement was/is.
Or maybe, we'll just do the handshake thing. I'll be meeting them on their jobsite anyways to interview them...
blue"...
keep looking for customers who want to hire YOU.. all the rest are looking for commodities.. are you a commodity ?... if you get sucked into "free estimates" and "soliciting bids"... then you are a commodity... if your operation is set up to compete as a commodity, then have at it..... but be prepared to keep your margins low and your overhead high...."
From the best of TauntonU.
Well, what do you want in the way of a clause? Simply an agreement to not contract directly with the main contractor/customer on that specific project, for a period about matching the expected time to completion? Or something more general?
So convenient a thing it is to be a reasonable Creature, since it enables one to find or make a Reason for everything one has a mind to do. --Benjamin Franklin
Basically, I don't want to bring in a second crew and have them start a bidding war and undercut us. We need some help and don't want to add five guys on payroll so we want to hire another crew to work with us. It's so cutthroat here though that we concerned that we'll just be exposing this sub to another round of cuts.
Things are very close to being as bad as 1983 around here. It's a very difficult state to be in business right now and we feel we have to go the extra mile to protect our interests.
I've decided that I'm going to do interviews away from that sub and I'll have to rely on my gut instincts. I know I wouldn't be able to get paper that amounts to anything...
blue
"...
keep looking for customers who want to hire YOU.. all the rest are looking for commodities.. are you a commodity ?... if you get sucked into "free estimates" and "soliciting bids"... then you are a commodity... if your operation is set up to compete as a commodity, then have at it..... but be prepared to keep your margins low and your overhead high...."
From the best of TauntonU.