Owners start most residential jobs with a Web search. Yelp and Angi and Thumbtack and a few others offer lists of local contractors categorized by construction specialty. Some include reviews volunteered by owners claiming to be former clients. Contractors can buy good placement and solicit kind words on these bulletin boards. That’s not cheap or easy and there’s plenty of competition.
Still, good reviews are like a
magnet. They attract potential clients. But one angry customer with access to
the Web can do plenty of damage to your reputation. A single one-star review carries
more weight than a half-dozen five-star reviews. And getting bad reviews
deleted, even fake bad reviews, takes time and effort – even when possible.
Unfavorable comments are called disparagement.
They’re perfectly legal. Defamation is different and isn’t legal. Defamation is
saying or writing something false with intent to do damage. So, what can you do
to keep negative comments off the Web?
Non-disparagement contracts are
common in many business situations. Most agreements that settle a lawsuit include
a non-disparagement clause. Major employers commonly require a
non-disparagement agreement before cutting an employee’s severance check.
In construction, disparagement wasn’t
a high-profile issue until recently. The Web has changed that. Contractors who
live off favorable Web listings recognize the importance of five-star ratings. When
a job runs off the rails, dissatisfaction can run deep. That’s when disparagement
becomes a hot topic.
Any time a business relationship
ends on other than favorable terms, it’s best to have a non-disparagement
agreement. Of course, the easiest time to get that agreement is before
work starts. In construction, that’s when the owner signs the contract. For
example:
Owner agrees not to disparage contractor
by making any statement that would impugn the character, integrity, reputation
or professionalism of contractor. Any evaluation of contractor provided by owner
for distribution on public media will give contractor a neutral or better
rating. Nothing in this agreement prevents owner from making truthful
statements reasonably necessary to comply with law or regulation.
Notice that the sample clause above
is unilateral. Only the owner is restricted. The clause works about as well if it
were mutual. Both owner and contractor could agree not to make disparaging comments.
Little harm in that. I don’t know any contractor who tried to destroy an owner’s
business reputation.
Can You Enforce Non-disparagement?
It depends. First, understand that
every negative comment isn’t disparagement. Suppose an owner posted on some Web
site:
Case 1. “Their work was terrible. I’ll
never call them again.”
Case 2: “They left the gate open and the dog got out.”
Both statements could be true. And
both are likely to discourage potential clients. But the first is a hatchet job
based on impressions. The second is not an attack on the contractor’s character,
integrity, reputation or professionalism. It’s a legitimate caution. Anyone with
a dog in the back yard might want to know.
Second, nothing can prevent an owner
from responding truthfully to an inquiry from government (such as a building
inspector) or legal process (such as a deposition).
If you have a non-disparagement
contract and true disparagement (such as Case 1 above), the remedy is money
damages, the value of your lost reputation. Proving that is mostly smoke and
mirrors. But collecting money damages isn’t the purpose of non-disparagement
clauses. Instead, non-disparagement forces an owner to think twice before making
careless accusations.
Construction Contract Writer makes
it easy to include non-disparagement in your agreements. The trial version is
free.
