In a time and materials excavation job, who pays for a situation that wasn’t anticipated and covered in any way in any agreement. Excavator is apparently renting the equipment and then covering that through billable hours. Excavator gets sick and is in the hospital for 3 weeks. The machinery costs him a grand a week to sit there and no work gets done. Should customer pay for those weeks? Should excavator eat that cost?
Those are all the details I have…
Replies
Why not return the equipment...
replace the operrator...
But I don't see how you can bill for what isn't being done..
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming
WOW!!! What a Ride!
>Why not return the equipment...
As far as I know, the down time wasn't expected, and it was a few days at a time that added to 3 straight weeks, not an expected 3 straight weeks, if I made that distinction clear. The transport costs for the equipment are pretty pricey be/c it's a remote site with difficult access.
Common practice here for large companies is to charge for time on the site. Smaller ones charge for hrs worked.
I'm about as small as it gets but still I've surprised more than a few by only charging for hrs worked (minimums apply). Part of that is also not allowing any "time is of the essence" to control me and possible necessary repairs. Larger companies with duplicate machines can manage that just fine.
Now, if the customer held me up, rather than weather, I'd be reconsidering my position.PAHS Designer/Builder- Bury it!
Thanks all, I think you've captured it sensibly. After discussing it with the parties who brought it up, I think there will not be any problems. Everyone seems to be having the same understanding and expectations.
exactly... time and materials means time spent doing the job, not time spent not doing the job.
think it is party who caused the down time
the excavator isn't working the job, so customer shouldn't be paying
that's a real simplification
but like what was said, why wasn't the equirpment returned?
strange things can happen with contracts
some common sense needs to be brought to bear
and the personal and business ends get mixed up.
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bobl Volo, non valeo
I suppose, from the excavator's viewpoint, he's probably more concerned with being in hospital than returning the equipt; but, that said, I'd say he is the one responsible for the rentals (hope he has appropriate disability insurance), and everyone else gets stuck under the old "force majeur" concept.
You say it's "time and materials", but say that the equipment rental was covered under his billable hours. If he'd speced it so that the rental was covered as "materials" then he could argue that the customer pays, but he set it up the other way, and it was his responsibility to have disability insurance or some such (a slush fund) to cover the situation.
From another angle, since his getting sick was (presumably) out of control of the customer, the associated expense should be included in the excavator's "overhead" and apportioned across all the jobs he does, vs sticking one customer for it.
I feel for the guy, but them's the risks you take.
PS: If the guy is a regular customer of the rental place, he should have a conversation with them. Since the equipment wasn't physically in use for those weeks (and hence not subject to wear and tear) they should be willing to write off part of the rental cost, especially if they aren't adding a charge for engine hours or some such.