Always use your own purchase order (if you can help it)

Sometimes we forget to send our terms and conditions when we issue a purchase order. Sometimes our suppliers respond to our purchase order with their own pre-printed terms and conditions. Is this something we need to be concerned about?

Blindly agreeing to your supplier’s purchase order terms and conditions is an easy way to find yourself susceptible to additional (and unnecessary) risk or unfavorable terms.  You should always strive to utilize your own purchase order form that has standard terms and conditions attached to the purchase order. Your purchase order terms and conditions can, in a single page document, address a number of very important contractual issues that often arise during the course of commercial construction projects, including:

• Warranty obligations;
• Delivery obligations;
• Contractor’s right to reject goods;
• Payment terms, including pay-if-paid provisions;
• Taxes;
• Suspension and/or termination of the purchase order; and
• Claims and dispute resolution.

If you are currently using a purchase order that does not have standard terms and conditions attached to your form, or if your company regularly signs purchase orders provided by your suppliers without insisting that your own terms and conditions control the transaction, call one of the members of our construction team to learn more about why a standard purchase order form can be a very useful (and often critical) form to have in your company’s arsenal.