This chapter contains these topics:
To enter a contract into the system
To set up financial information regarding a contract
To enter contract-specific information
To change contract commitments
You create contracts for the subcontractors on your jobs. A contract contains the details of a work agreement with a subcontractor. You can enter lump sum contracts or unit contracts. A lump sum contract is a contract in which you commit a single amount for the entire contract. A unit contract is a contract in which you commit an amount based on the number of units the subcontractor completes. A commitment is the money that you agree to pay for a contract.
For example, assume that it costs 1000 to install all of the plumbing for the floor 3 job of an office building project. You can enter a lump sum contract for plumbing for 1000. Now, assume that it costs 0.25 per square foot to install the drywall for the same job. In this case, each square foot of drywall is one unit. You can enter a unit contract for drywall based on the number of square feet the subcontractor needs to install.
You enter identifying information to distinguish your contracts from each other. Identifying information includes details about the contract company, subcontractor information, and financial details, such as tax rates and retainage. Retainage is a percentage of the contract amount that is held until a specific date after the work is complete.
After you enter the identifying information for a contract, you enter the commitment details.
In addition, you can create log information for each of your contracts. Log information is supplemental to the information in a contract, and includes such details as submittals and transmittals. A submittal is information that you need to receive from a subcontractor. A transmittal is information that you need to send to a subcontractor.
You can change the commitment details of a contract after you enter them by creating a change order. This updates the commitment information and allows the system to keep an audit trail of the changes to the contract commitments.
Working with a contract includes the following tasks:
Enter identifying information
Enter commitment information
Work with log information
Create a change order