Studying the form

There are a number of provisions in the subcontract used by Laing Management which give cause for concern. Subcontractors are required to pass the terms of the subcontract on to their subcontractors, for example, having already been forced to accept unreasonable conditions which appear in the main contract. The company gives itself extensive rights to make set-off deductions, and these could make the subcontractor's cash flow very exposed. A further provision states that the subcontract must be carried out 'within times allocated by the contractor.'