Specifying a maintenance contract that can be held to

A maintenance contract is usually procured on price against a scope written by whoever had time. The scope says the contractor will service the equipment quarterly in accordance with manufacturer recommendations, and both parties sign. For a separate product-side perspective on connecting labour cost to contracted service levels, this guide provides additional detail.

Two years later there is a disagreement about whether something was in scope. Neither side is being unreasonable; the document simply did not say.

Specify tasks, not visits

'Quarterly service' is not a specification. It is a frequency attached to an undefined activity, and it will be delivered at whatever level the contractor's margin permits. For a wider operational and compliance reference, consult OSHA contractor and process safety guidance.

The specification should list what happens at each visit: which checks, which measurements recorded, which consumables replaced, what is cleaned, what is tested and to what standard. This is more work to write and it is the difference between a contract you can enforce and one you can only be disappointed by.

Separate planned from reactive, and price both

Almost every maintenance contract contains two commercially different things: a predictable programme of planned visits, and an unpredictable requirement to attend faults.

Price them separately. A fixed sum for the planned programme, and a defined mechanism for reactive work — hourly rates by trade, in and out of hours, minimum charges, travel treatment, and the threshold above which a quotation is required before proceeding. Contracts that bundle the two either overcharge for a quiet year or produce arguments in a busy one.

Define the boundary of the asset

A surprising proportion of disputes are about where one contract stops. The lift contract covers the lift; does it cover the lighting in the shaft, the door on the landing, the phone line to the emergency intercom?

For each contracted system, state what is in and, where there is any doubt, what is out. Gaps between contracts are discovered when something in the gap fails and both contractors decline it.

Specify the record, not just the work

What the contractor must provide is part of the deliverable: a completed service sheet per asset, readings where readings are taken, certificates for statutory work, a list of defects found with recommendations, and the format and deadline for supplying all of it.

Make the payment conditional on the documentation. This is the only mechanism that reliably produces paperwork, and without it certificates arrive months late or not at all — which for statutory work means the inspection may as well not have happened.

Write the exit before you sign the entry

Notice period, what happens to spares and specialist tools, who holds the software keys or controller passwords, and what records are handed over in what format.

Building control and access systems are where this matters most: a contract that ends without the passwords being transferred can leave the organisation unable to change a setting on a system it owns. Ask the question during procurement, when the answer is easy to obtain.

Price is the last question

Comparing quotations against a vague scope compares different assumptions about what was included, and the lowest number is generally the one that assumed least.

With a detailed task specification, the quotations become comparable and the conversation shifts from price to whether the specification is right — which is the conversation worth having, and the one a good contractor will contribute to.