All the books I read strongly recommend having everything in writing with each of your subs. This starts with a written contract. Several books include a sample contract inside, or they have a website where you can download one. I read them and put together my own contract template by piecing together clauses that I thought were important.
But I don't want to leave myself open to anything, so I'm having a lawyer look over my contract. He's an older man who used to be a construction manager. He's been a criminal lawyer for years, and he's extremely thorough. In fact, he's the same person I used for the act of sale on the property I'm building on.
His first thoughts after reading my contract were to call me and make sure I know what I'm getting into. He went over items like making sure each sub has all the required insurance on himself and his employees, providing detailed written specs for ech tradesman, securing waivers of lien from every worker who touches the project and also their suppliers, keeping watch for contractor scams, etc. Once I told him I've been studying up on contracting & owner building for months, he felt better that I know what I'm taking on. Next, he's going to modify my contract so that I have maximum protection.
Having a solid cntract is a good starting point. But I know that it's still going to take a lot of diligence on my part to avoid legal dangers. I'm thankful that I've found someone as thorough as this lawyer to keep me on my toes!
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