Contractor without Mandatory Binding Arbitration?

March 17, 2016 11:53 AM

Is it even possible to find a contractor that will do home repairs without having a mandatory binding arbitration clause in the contract?
posted by slavlin to Home & Garden (3 answers total)

Best answer: You can tell the contractor up front that it's not acceptable and that you will strike it out of the contract should they get the job. Their response will tell you a lot about the operation.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 1:27 PM on March 17, 2016

Sure it's possible; my company doesn't put anything like that in its contracts, so it's definitely possible. Not to mention that there are still a lot of contractors out there who just haven't thought very hard about things like contracts and arbitration. (I am constantly astounded by how informal a lot of residential construction is.) The prevalence of that kind of contract clause could easily vary a lot regionally, though. As far as I know the norm in New England is to take things to court in the unfortunate event that a contractor and a client just can't come to their own agreement about something, but that may not be the case in your part of the country. Regardless, you are welcome to try striking that clause from your contracts. I would definitely not want to sign a contract myself that had something like that in it.
posted by Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The at 2:48 PM on March 17, 2016

For repairs? For simple stuff you can easily find people who will do repairs without a written contract at all.
posted by yohko at 3:45 PM on March 17, 2016