Running the Business · Part 5

A warranty policy that protects you: what to promise, for how long, what to exclude, and what a warranty cannot do

A warranty is a promise you make in writing so that the year-two phone call is answered by the paper instead of by an argument. Written well, it says what is covered (your workmanship, for a stated period), what is not (the customer's own fixture, the drain you cleared but did not replace, damage from pressure you told them to fix), how to make a claim, and that the manufacturer's warranty on the equipment is the manufacturer's. Written badly, "lifetime warranty on all work" is a section 7161 claim you cannot keep. This lesson is the policy and its limits: what a warranty can promise, what it cannot waive, and why the honest version sells more than the inflated one.