Over Order Problem

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theheteison

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I encountered a first for me. I have several lights that were ordered special for a project. Mid way through the project the quantity of lights has changed to far fewer. I contacted my P.M. and was told they are a non returnable item. He told me to get rid of them any way I could and offered no suggestions. Has anyone had expierence with this type of problem and possible solutions to the problem. The nice thing is they are 120v lights so they can be used readily. I have thought of e-bay but I have not done business that way. Any help will be appreciated.
 
Have you asked the project owners if they want them? If they are not getting a deduct they may ask you for them after you have sold them.

Roger
 
roger said:
Have you asked the project owners if they want them? If they are not getting a deduct they may ask you for them after you have sold them.

Roger
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Good advise.
I have seen this before. This is a good way to get into some trouble.
The owner will most likely want the fixtures when they realize they will get no credit for deleting them from the project.
I would store them and wait until the project is closed out before selling them.

Tim
 
As special orders, it might be wise to hang on to a couple for replacements later on. If the deduction does happen, then sell them on the idea of at least buying some as spares.

Would it be against forum rules to say I'd be ineterested in knowing more about them?
 
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"YOUR" lights

"YOUR" lights

imo-sorry i allready ordered YOUR lites,there on the way,, ,,i cant return them,,,,
you did what they asked you to do,,your NOT stuck w/ them,,they are,,
 
tkb said:
Good advise.
I have seen this before. This is a good way to get into some trouble.
The owner will most likely want the fixtures when they realize they will get no credit for deleting them from the project.
I would store them and wait until the project is closed out before selling them.

Tim
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Tim is "spot on" with this advice. You should listen to him.
 
Were the lights ordered as a change order? Were the lights in the original contract price? If they were in the original price then you surely put the cost in the job. Now you have extra lights to store in your shop.

If you were issued a change order and the cost of the lights should have been included in the change order, then the change order should stay the same. If you were told to order the lights and they would pay for them, without a signed change order then good luck getting the money. We almost always get a signed change order before we do anything. At very few times will we do it on the verbal agreement of a change order.
 
That's how I see it. You contracted for X number of fixtures for a price, but should they come back and want to decrease the number of fixtures - the price stays the same.
 
Minuteman said:
That's how I see it. You contracted for X number of fixtures for a price, but should they come back and want to decrease the number of fixtures - the price stays the same.
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If this was the case, I try and be fair about it. If they will not take back the fixtures and charge a restock fee. I ask them where they want their extra fixtures stored or I give them back about 25% of the cost and hope I can sell the fixtures later. If the fixtures can be taken back for a restock fee. I tell them the cost of the fee and deduct that from the fixture credit. I try to keep a good relationship with the customer. If they feel like we were fair, most of the time we get repeat projects.
 
I'm speaking purely hypothetically, of course. I never had to deal with this type of situation. Notwithstanding, I would do my best to keep the customer... I just don't want to eat HIS fixtures.
 
tkb said:
Good advise.
I have seen this before. This is a good way to get into some trouble.
The owner will most likely want the fixtures when they realize they will get no credit for deleting them from the project.
I would store them and wait until the project is closed out before selling them.

Tim
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What makes you think the owner will ever be told about this?
Do what your "Boss" the P.M. said get rid of them. Take them home!
 
If you contracted to install these fixtures and the scope of work changes to less work, IMO, the honorable thing to do is to give a credit for work not performed. Now this credit does not have to be 100% of what you estimated. You had expenses in dealing with the fixtures and paperwork with the customer.

If they want you to do more work, you want to be paid more (and should be paid more), then why would you not be paid less for less work?

If you took your car in to a shop to have a bunch work performed on it and they gave you a price for all the work, then they found out that you don't need something done, would you prefer them to not do it and keep the money for the service or reduce your bill for the work not performed?
 
For us if the scope reduces generally the customer gets some credit back to them.

If any items ordered for that portion are already 'bought' and not returnable the customer will own them and we will leave them on the job as spares or as junk to be thrown out by the owner at a later time.

77401 said:
What makes you think the owner will ever be told about this?
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Why that would change the outcome?
 
I agree. If the customer paid for it, it belongs to him (or her).

"Right is right and wrong is wrong and never the twain shall meet"
(author unknown)
steve
 
77401 said:
What makes you think the owner will ever be told about this?
Do what your "Boss" the P.M. said get rid of them. Take them home!
Click to expand...

Who do you think instigated the change, some wino walking down the street?:rolleyes:

If the owner has bought into a design and it has become a contract, a change such as this would not be done without the owner agreeing to it and all documentation and signatures would be included in the change.

You obviously aren't involved in larger projects. On a typical project we sit in weekly (or more) meetings, and changes such as these are discussed into the ground, so the owners and designers would be well aware of the situation with these fixtures and why they are not getting a deduct for them. They would still be entitled to a deduct for the labor.

Before the changes are decided on, the owners and designers will want to have some idea of the cost (adds or deducts) to the project, when the change is put together the owners and designers will want to (and have every right to) see the back up for all the adds and deducts to the project.

If I were the owner and these custom fixtures are in the 100s or 1,000's of dollars each range, I would want them since I had paid for them, even if they just ended up in some storage shed.

Roger
 
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