Vendors and service contracts

Buildings run on contracts: janitorial, landscaping, security, elevator, HVAC maintenance, fire systems. Each contract carries the fields that later matter: scope and frequency, price and escalation, term and end date, termination notice, renewal mechanics, and the certificate of insurance (COI) naming the owner as additional insured.

The classic failure is the silent auto-renewal: a contract that rolls for a year because nobody diarized the 60-day notice window. The second is the expired COI — a vendor on the roof with lapsed coverage is the owner's uninsured risk. Both are calendar problems, which is why contract dates belong in the alert system, not a drawer.

Price discipline: rebid or benchmark on a cycle (commonly 2–3 years), compare against the expense line it feeds, and keep scope changes written. A contract that drifts from its scope becomes unenforceable in the exact moment you need it.