Lauren Owiti is an events, photography and video production consultant. In early November this year, she got a job to shoot a budget gospel music video for a popular Central region vernacular musician.

“I charged the client Sh. 100,000 for the shoot. The client complained that the amount was beyond their budget. She bargained and we agreed on a figure of Sh. 80,000,” says Lauren. “This would allow me to transport and pay my crew, and leave me with some profit.”

On shooting day, Lauren’s client came with a new list of locations and shots. “She demanded that we had to take some shots at the Rift Valley viewing point along the Nairobi-Nakuru highway.

She also demanded for some aerial shots of the tea plantations in Limuru. This increased the costs to Sh. 140,000. I now needed to hire additional cameras, crew and drones on short notice,” says Lauren.

But when Lauren explained the additional costs, the client flew off the handle. “She said we had an agreement and demanded that I honour it.” In the end, Lauren agreed to shoot the video at a loss.

“I was afraid of losing the client. She was a big name and I wanted my production brand to appear on her video,” she says.

Quite often, consultants and service entrepreneurs find themselves in this position: a client makes up extra work demands without matching them with higher pay. So what do you do if you find yourself in this boat? Take a look at what to do when client breaches contract:

Preparing for renegotiation

The first step is to institute a renegotiation on terms and remuneration. Although you can start off through email, a physical meeting is always better.

Don’t let the conversation go beyond two emails. “A physical meet up will allow the client to understand where your concerns are coming from. It will be respectful too,” says Elizabeth Nyayieka, a business coach and financial markets consultant.

Where the client is in outright breach of your terms, Ms. Nyayieka says that the conversation might be quite hard to navigate. “The best way to prepare is to have a list of the costly issues you need to address. Then keep your emotions in check,” she says.

One of the paramount fears consultants have is that their concerns may cost them the good relationship they have with a client. But Ken Munyua, a consultant psychologist and human resource recruiter says that this is not always the case.

The relationship goes both ways. You ought to be confident to point out the additional costs if the client adds more work. If the client agrees to increase the pay, you must make sure that this is captured in writing.

The addendum

It is important to ensure that the possibility of additional work and the subsequent addendum are captured in the contract before you start work. This addendum can either be with costs or not.

An addendum is an additional attachment that modifies or updates the terms and conditions of the original contract.

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“Before you negotiate on the addendum, you must first analyze the scope and the cost that comes with it. Point out the additional costs when you have your justification,” says Munyua.

But he points out that some additional works may not always warrant additional costs. “It is easier to renegotiate and get more money when you are specific about the cost implication of the additional work the client is demanding, requesting or instructing for.”

Sub-contracting

One of the biggest mistakes you can make is to take up a job you know nothing about.

“You must know what you can do and what you can’t do and stick to that. Don’t take up jobs you may need to sub-contract if you know nothing about them. It will put you at a disadvantage during renegotiations,” says Munyua.

This may also cost you money and reputation if you over-promise and under-deliver.

Can’t pay won’t pay

Take legal action if a client breaches the terms of your services to such an extent that your consultancy business faces huge losses or risk of collapse.

Esther Masanyangila, the managing partner of Masanyangila & Associates Advocates which deals with corporate commercial litigation and conveyance says that you can start off with an arbitrator.

“You should include an arbitration clause in the contractual agreement. If the client breaches the terms, you can get resolution from a qualified arbitrator instead of going to court. Arbitration is faster and more convenient than courts,” says Ms. Masanyangila.

If the contract you signed with the client did not have an arbitration clause, you may write a demand letter asking for your pay.

If the client doesn’t honour the demand letter, you can then start legal proceedings against them in court.

If you had done some work and the client has violated your agreement to such an extent that you cannot complete the work you had agreed on, Masanyangila says that you can demand and get payment for the portion of work you’ve done.

“If this escalates to courts, you will get damages based on the kind and amount of work you had done,” she says.

The other side of the coin

Patricia Okello, the founder of Conferencing In A Box Limited and Willart Production Limited, says that sometimes failing to legally enforce a contract can win you more jobs in some circumstances.

“I once pitched for a job with a local NGO and won a contract to design and produce a booklet for one of their projects. At the time, I had been in business long enough to understand the importance of signing off on all approvals from the client at every crucial stage during production. The most important part of the contract was designing the cover,” she says.

Patricia and her client had a lot of back and forth on the design work with her client, but finally, she got the approval and was ready to go to press.

The job went out without a hitch and she delivered to her client in good time. “The cover was beautiful – I recall it was purple and I had given it a nice shiny finish,” she says.

On the eve of the day that the booklet was to launch, as she packed her things to leave the office, Patricia got a call from the client.

“He was angry. The cover of the booklet had a glaring spelling mistake. At that point, the temptation to tell the client that they had in fact signed off on all the printing proofs before I ran the job was high,” she says.

But she quickly realized that this would not be a good idea and told the client that she would pick the published booklets and resolve the issue the following day in time for the launch.

“The following day, I ran a fresh cover without the spelling mistake and delivered in time. Yes, I ran this job at a huge loss, but the decision to re-print the publication is what encouraged the client to give me a second and third chance. I have since kept this client to date,” she says.