Why are there so many different contracts for your alarm - securitybusiness? Can't there just be one contract that covers everything you do?Unfortunately the answer is no. There are many different services youprovide and each requires specific contract requirements. Initially youmust recognize that your relationship with your subscriber is created anddefined by your contract. Failing to reduce that understanding andagreement to writing is the worst business decision you can make.

If you sell and install, you need a sales contract that covers theinstallation. If you provide monitoring, then you need a monitoringcontract [and you need your own monitoring contract even if - especially if- you subcontract out the monitoring to one of the wholesale monitoringcompanies]. If you provide service, apart from warranty work which iscovered by the sales contract, you need a service contract.If you have residential subscribers their contracts must be different thanthe commercial subscribers.While all alarm - security contracts do have common provisions whichprovide protection against liability, each contract is unique because itdeals with the particular relationship; i.e. the service you are providing.For example, you can't use a sales contract and turn it into a lease, andyou would have a difficult time turning a monitoring contract into aservice contract.It's important to remember that consumer contracts must comply with manylaws, and that even the commercial contracts have to have printed font thatis readable. Using small type to fit it all in one contract runs the realrisk of having the contract tossed in court when you need it most.

So the alternative is to have a multi page contract covering all types ofservices that you may not be offering to that particular subscriber [andyou would have to learn how to use that multi part contract], or severalcontracts that deal with essentially one type of service at a time andconfines its fill in the blanks on the face of the contract.The standard form contracts I offer at www.alarmcontracts.com are genericin the sense that most are for "security equipment". The sales, service andmonitoring contracts can be used for any type of security installation,including alarm, access control, fire, etc.Of course more specific contracts are also available, such as the FireInspection contract.

This article focused on the contracts you need with your subscribers. Thereare many other contracts you need in your business, such as employment,subcontractor agreement, stockholder/partnership, central station, etc. Youenter into contracts all the time perhaps without realizing most of them[telephone, cell phone, lease to premises, business equipment, cars, etc].You shouldn't be surprised that your business needs require you to have anduse many different contracts.

-----------------

Here is follow up comment from Florida alarm dealer -

Ken,

We also keep separate contracts for both internal and outside insuranceaudits, as an alarm installation and monitoring are classified at a higherrate of cost of insurance. Keeping access, CCTV and other "non-alarm"classified in total sales categories by contract allows you to easilyclassify and pay only the amount you should. Auditors look at the bankersboxes you have all lined up on the table when they walk in and look at theExcel print out by contract number and date, pull out a few contracts atrandom to compare the Excel sheet entry and then take your word for therest of it and leave in about 11.26 minutes.Sales tax laws also vary from State to State, where an alarm is a realestate improvement in my State, and we pay tax only on our cost of parts,yet the telephone system phones that plug into a jack are taxable at retailas an appliance.

Again, as another point to Ken's point, contracts of different types arealso used to keep the book keeper straight on classifications that keep youbriskly out of trouble and paying the lowest legal amounts of taxes andinsurance.

JR