Sueing a third party

[northernladuk]

Thanks for all the replies.....I appreciate all the sympathy

I've had contracts end early before and fully understand the 'no work = no revenue' side of contracting but this is the first time I've had a supplier admit that due to their negligence a project has had to grind to a halt until they fix things - I have a feeling the end client will try and recover their losses from the supplier so why shouldn't I.

But there we go, sounds like a non-starter.

And if they've provided a fixed price statement of work it's possible they can. They have lost something because the contract was to deliver X and they've terminated so could be a penalty amount or they may go for the full amount promised. You are on T&M so you can't. And whatever a client recovers is none of your business. It's not covered in the contract.

'no work = no revenue' is about as clear as it can be. Doesn't matter who did what to who and why. The 4 words in that statement still stand.

You really need to learn what you do and how your clients do business. It would make these things a bit clearer. Still as frustrating but will help you understand who does what why a bit better.

[jmo21]

Nature of the contracting beast, and one of the most important things to get your head around as a contractor. I always mention it when folks ask me about contracting.
"How would you feel if you left BigPermieCo, for a 6 month £700/day contract, and it gets canned a week later"?

It sucked the first time it happened to me (contract canned a few days before it started - that's prob better than getting onsite, starting a project, meeting people etc right enough)

Imagine you were contracted to Company A (via your Ltd, and other consultancy) to do the same work for the client, and Company A messed up exactly the same.

Even then, having a more direct relationship with them, you wouldn't have cause to sue them. It'd be "sorry, there's been a delay, we messed up, so there is no longer work for you."

[northernladuk]

Oh.. Don't know if it got mentioned but you can only really go after the people you are contracted to for breach of contract. Absolutely zero chance of you going after their client. I'd imagine they've a lot more money to spend on lawyers for a start. That's just madness.

My standard response is suck it up buttercup. You are paid handsomely for this risk and sometimes things go wrong. That's contracting. But... in an effort to look helpful.

Some people have invoiced their client as usual up to the end of the notice period in the contract and got paid. Very occasionally but it's happened. Forget anything beyond notice period. You are in contract from they day you are told to stop work until the end of the notice period. Whether or not you get paid is a different thing as we have pointed out but the client may not know this. If you got told to down tools on Friday and you've got a weeks notice then invoice them up until Friday coming even if you didn't work and see what happens.
Point out the notice clause and you've invoiced as per the contract and hope they don't understand their own contract. Nothing to lose. Massive chance they'll say no and if so you've got to take it on the chin and move on. Nothing else for you there.

[PerfectStorm]

Nature of the contracting beast, and one of the most important things to get your head around as a contractor. I always mention it when folks ask me about contracting.
"How would you feel if you left BigPermieCo, for a 6 month £700/day contract, and it gets canned a week later"?

Interestingly, the permies I chat to seem to think that contractors experience this every other week.

They'd rather have a 95% chance of earning £100 a day, than a 80% chance of earning £500 a day.

[jmo21]

Interestingly, the permies I chat to seem to think that contractors experience this every other week.

They'd rather have a 95% chance of earning £100 a day, than a 80% chance of earning £500 a day.

Totally, there's a significantly higher chance they'll get a 6 month contract at £500/day that will get multiple extensions.

It would be remiss not to mention it though, especially if they have mortgage and kids.

For younger ones, without those things, I would focus more on the potential difficulty getting contracts as they are less experienced. Although again the 6 month/£500/day multiple extended contract is still a likely scenario.