Subscriber Discussion

Integrator Sales Contract Example Needed, Please.

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David Matyas
Jan 04, 2016

Does anyone have a contract that they are willing to share, or a link to where to get one?

Recently we relized that are current one is not good enough. We need one to protect us as far as warranty, liability, sets up service pricing, etc...

Thank you

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Brian Rhodes
Jan 04, 2016
IPVMU Certified

Hello:

Do you mean sales /project contract? The piece of paper the customer signs to accept a proposal?

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David Matyas
Jan 04, 2016

Yes.

From what I see on the forum, some users have contracts that spell out the following:

Exactly what is covered

Protecting from liability

Ability to charge a penalty if have to fight to collect the funds

Exact warranty and what causing voiding the warranty

etc...

Also a sign off sheet that the work was completed.

Our current contract is a single page that states warranty and the price and what is being done. I feel that it is no longer good enough.

Thanks

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Andrew Thomas
Jan 04, 2016

Contracts for Sales?

"Break-FIX" work?

RMM support Work?

Our attorneys first required us to put in writing the services we perform, the expectations we had of clients, and the expectations the clients might have of us. GEEZE that was a lot of work. We defined what we did, and how we did it. Many hours, and $6,000 later, we have a MASTER SERVICE AGREEMENT.... You can google lot's of examples..
Defines warranties, terms, and other T/C's.

We then created individual service attachments that define specific service offerings.

And finally we have a Global pricing and support addendum.
Defines the fees, what constitutes an outage, our response times, standard and extra fees...

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Armando Perez
Jan 05, 2016
Hoosier Security and Security Owners Group • IPVMU Certified

Considering most of us paid lawyers a pretty penny to get our own agreements, Im not sure you're going to find much assistance in the way of getting other professionals to just give you a copy of their purchase agreement. Theres a reason we paid the big bucks for them, they have a tendency to save your hide. Asking for a free one is a bit of a shortcut that may indicate some other characteristics about your business and what it values... ;)

Thats said, Kirschenbaums contracts are for the most part good, and cheaper than paying your own attorney in most cases...

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Andrew Thomas
Jan 05, 2016
Here is a wonderful book on writing contracts and agreements. It really helped us a lot in the past, and allowed us to do much of the work ourselves. Our lawyers even praised much of what we had done ourselves. http://www.amazon.com/Write-Your-Own-Business-Contracts/dp/1555711707
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David Matyas
Jan 05, 2016

I actually called my lawyer and asked him about a contract.

He said that while he can write a basic business contract, he does not know the low voltage field so it would be hard for him to write a a standard contract that would be usable by most jobs. He can write one for a particular job if I want to be protected, but it would cost a lot and should only be for big jobs.

UI
Undisclosed Integrator #1
Jan 05, 2016

Try AlarmContracts.com very affordable contracts done by a lawyer that is familiar with the industry.

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David Matyas
Jan 05, 2016

I looked at alarmcontracts.com as well as did some googleing. Those that have used the website, are their contracts better then the ones I was able to find online such as :

http://www.issi247.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Master-contract-fill-in-01-25-12UPDATED.pdf

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Armando Perez
Jan 06, 2016
Hoosier Security and Security Owners Group • IPVMU Certified

That looks like a modified Kirschenbaum contract.

Heres your question. Do you fully understand every single sentence in that agreement? Fully, completely and totally, the legal definitions of each of those words and what they mean to your business? If you don't, you are risking your entire business for a couple hundred bucks.

If thats worth it to you, then go ahead. but... if there is a single word in its context up there that you do not fully understand the legal purpose of, I would go sell something that makes you a couple hundred bucks in profit and buy a contract you can trust.

In a former life I used a contract I found on the internet. It did not work out well for me.

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David Matyas
Jan 06, 2016

From my understanding about the Kirschenbaum agreements, is that they just send you a copy, and they dont modify it at all. So if all they are giving is the contract, how is that any different then from using one of theirs found online that was a bit modified?

Thank you

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Armando Perez
Jan 06, 2016
Hoosier Security and Security Owners Group • IPVMU Certified
His contracts are state specific and are modified only to allow for the company name etc, but they are state specific and updated every couple of years. What flys where you are wont necessarily fly where I am. What was allowed 3 years ago may not be whats allowed today. Also, depends on what this other person modified... We currently use his contracts, but I had our attorney go over them and modify some small things for the way we do business. So I got the priviledge of paying two ly.... Lawyers. Still, not an area I would wing it in ever again. Pardon typos... Stupid mobile devices.
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David Matyas
Jan 06, 2016

The residential ones are customized for the state. The commercial is one for all.

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Armando Perez
Jan 06, 2016
Hoosier Security and Security Owners Group • IPVMU Certified

His contracts are state specific and are modified only to allow for the company name etc, but they are state specific and updated every couple of years. What flys where you are wont necessarily fly where I am. What was allowed 3 years ago may not be whats allowed today. Also, depends on what this other person modified... unless you know what they modified it is a risk.

We currently use his contracts, but I had our attorney go over them and modify some small things for the way we do business, which I'm sure would cause problems for other integrators out there. So I got the priviledge of paying two ly.... Lawyers.

Still, not an area I would wing it in ever again.

Pardon typos... Stupid mobile devices.

KL
Keefe Lovgren
Jan 06, 2016
IPVMU Certified

David,

I will agree with what many have stated it is worth contacting Kirschenbaum&Kirschenbaum regarding your contracts. They have vast experience in the industry and provide much more than just a contract they are available to explain it to you so you clearly understand it and will support you if an issue may arise. Best of luck!

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Andrew Thomas
Jan 06, 2016
When reselling any service, the underlying provider normally has requirements that are agreed to by the end customers. (Indemnify - harmless is common). If you are selling Alarm Monitoring Services, you might ask their legal department for their master agreement, and your agreements cover service and billing services... Basically side-step any expectations of the actual alarm monitoring services... In the IT business, we do this for Hosted Mail Services provided by a 3rd party.. We're the enablers, Support Liaison, billing services only.
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Armando Perez
Jan 06, 2016
Hoosier Security and Security Owners Group • IPVMU Certified

careful to read that 3rd party agreement.

Alarm.com's agreement for example is heavily in their favor, going so far, some claim, as throwing the actual installer under the bus.

If you sold it and it caused a problem, simply saying "Im just the middle man" wont remove any of your liability...especially if found to be negligent or

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