***************************
GETTING FIRE ALL IN ONE SIGNED
***************************
Ken,
    Quick question I have never seen your Fire all in one contract and as a fire alarm company we do very little work directly with the building owner.  99% of our work is thru a general contractor or a construction manager.  I guess my question  is the wording in the contract more to the building owner and if so what if the GC signs it and they don't own the building?  Most  times we have to sign a lengthily contract from the GC but im not sure I can get them to sign one to represent the owner.
ZB
******************************
RESPONSE
******************************
    The Commercial Fire All in One is designed to be signed by the end user.  It can be used when you're hired by a GC to do the fire alarm installation.  In that case you would have the GC sign the Fire All in One but only the sale and installation portion of the agreement would be applicable.  You would use the same form for the end user to sign when you are providing the monitoring, inspection and repair services.  
    Not all GCs will sign the All in One, and  not all end users will sign it either.  That's not a good reason not to have it and present it to them.  If you don't have the form then they surely won't be signing it.  
    Whether you're going to insist on your form being signed is going to depend on how much business you get from the GC, or the end user, and how lucrative the job you are being offered is.  Greed often overcomes prudent counsel.  The important thing to know under these circumstances is that you're increasing your risk.  Hopefully it's worth it and with a little luck nothing will go wrong that sucks you into a lawsuit.  
***************************
CUSTOMER'S AGREEMENT AND ADDING VALUE TO YOUR BUSINESS
***************************
Ken,
    I can't thank you enough for the years of free education and advise.
    Well it's finally happened, we have come full circle. I have a commercial customer that is not only requiring their own contract be signed, mine is not even added as an attachment. They have totally done away with my contract. They re-write the body, copy of materials and services only, in their own words, along with my price. I will forgo the details of the contract because they come standard in all forms of protecting themselves and putting me right out of business.
    My question is this, what value does this type of a service contract add to my company?   Is there any residual benefit to this type of an agreement or I am completely wasting my time?   It's a huge regional customer otherwise, I would tell them what to do with their contract.
Thanks,
Slowly dying in FLA
****************************
RESPONSE
****************************
    I like to say that alarm contracts trade like negotiable paper on the open market.  There is always value and always a buyer.  Like commercial paper some are worth more than others, and some junk becomes almost but not entirely worthless.  
    What could be worse than a repair service agreement that is worded every way to benefit the end user and put the alarm company at risk?  Sure you might find a buyer, but plenty of potential buyers will want to exclude that agreement from the RMR and the sale.  Even a monitoring agreement that is written on a form prepared by an end user and therefore favorable in terms to the end user, significantly increasing the alarm company's risk, is going to be worth much less than a properly drafted Standard Form Agreement.  Since the range of value is so wide it's probably true that it can be said that any RMR paper can be sold, but generally no one mentions that it may go for 10 x or less.  If you want 35 times or more then use the Standard Form Agreements.  They will be instantly recognized and accepted for top dollar.