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The vision is to achieve a united front in the industry and for specialist contractors to stand firm on the value of their services
“ I love this industry and joined the sector for a time but became increasingly disillusioned by the treatment of specialist
contractors , like my father . I didn ’ t know how I was going to do it , but I decided I wanted to tackle this mindset . I ’ ve been talking to people about this issue for years , but big businesses don ’ t want to listen . I ’ m something of an entrepreneur and was a member of Entrepreneurial Scotland . A peer suggested I join the Saltire Fellowship , a leadership programme run by Babson College , a top school of business and the best college for entrepreneurship . I ’ ve been working in contract adjudication for about 17 years , and it was while I was participating in the leadership programme that I experienced something of an epiphany . I realised that you can ’ t change people ’ s minds , but if you change the industry then you can change the way people treat each other .
“ I decided that a different approach could potentially work and settled on branching out as the Contract Coach ® to transfer knowledge . Bizarrely , while many people are unwilling to pay to understand a contract prior to commencing work , they are prepared to pay over the odds to resolve a dispute in the end . Fundamentally , while dispute resolution is where I ’ ve earned a living , I ’ m driven by the desire to not see others go through what my dad went through . The consequences of insolvency can be horrific and far-reaching , in terms of people ’ s mental health and wellbeing , including suicide . I ’ m only just starting out with coaching but have seen a big upturn in my following , sharing hard-hitting but humorous content to engage others .
“ Life is meant to be fun and joyous . It ’ s not about undermining each other . If someone does a job for you , you pay them . It is indefensible to wait for a specialist contractor to announce insolvency so that you don ’ t have to pay them . It is this type of reprehensible industry behaviour that I ’ m going to not just talk about , but shout about . It ’ s time to clean up the industry . As the Contract Coach ® , I want to embolden people to understand contracts and show them the rights they have in business and in law .
“ The main reason for industry disputes and insolvencies is a lack of understanding and competence surrounding contract administration . Specialist contractors have professional qualifications and accreditations . Their skills are essential to project completion , but the majority are faced with payment terms heavily weighted in favour of the bigger organisations eliciting their services . If a dispute arises , most contractors won ’ t have the means to pay legal fees , so in effect , put their own businesses at risk by signing these unfavourable contracts .
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