[Cochran]

I have a commercial landscape project coming up and have concerns regarding the contract that was presented by the General Contractor. The contract itself is vague in nature--probably their standard contract for all subcontractors they use. Landscaping is only mentioned once in the entire contract, on the first page describing the work to be performed, and it simply reads, "To provide and install plant and landscape material per revised Proposal dated January 3, 2008". The remainder of the contractor basically specifies payment terms, liability issues, payment terms, etc. In a whole, I don't have a problem with the contract, but I do not like that my end of the bargain does not seem to be protected by the contract presented to me by the General Contractor--guess that does mean I have a problem with the contract???

I am looking for suggestions for revisions and/or addendums to this contract that was presented so that I will feel more comfortable submitting this contract. Should I just do an addendum to the contract with the information I want included or should I have the contract itself revised?

This is a smaller scale commercial job and irrigation and landcape installation will only take 8-9 days to complete in entirety. In accordance with their contract terms we could have to wait as long as 7-8 weeks for payment. I would like to have payment terms adjusted since we're not going to be on the job as long as many subcontractors that have been hired.

Because I do primarily residential design/build I am the one presenting the contract so the contract is worded in a way I feel more comfortable with as far as protecting myself and my assets and investments. I don't typically do commercial work, and don't solicit commercial work, but this company approached us about submitting a proposal for this construction job. The company is a large commercial building company with branches here and in Houston. Their reputation is high and I'm not uncomfortable about performing work for them, I am uncomfortable with the contract presented and I don't have enough experience with commercial contracting yet. Also, I am going to take the contract by my lawyer later today so she can look it over, also.