Kyle Wiebers

A contract is a necessity when engaging in a freelance agreement to ensure your safety and help establish expectations between you and the client.  A great contract will give you a solid foundation, boost credibility as a professional and gain experience.  Ensuring clear terms of payment, deliverable expectations, intellectual property rights and limitation of liabilities are essential to the success of your contact.

First, let’s look at the contract at a glance and then dive a little deeper into some more important sections.  At the end, I’ll attach a copy of my contract as a reference if you wish to create your own.

Contract Overview

The must-have elements of any freelance contract should be: Overview, Terms of Service, Schedule, Payment Terms, Maintenance and Limitation of Liabilities.  Putting the elements in this order creates a logical flow from introduction to details to ending.  It’s also important to reference the client throughout the document so he/she understands what is required of them and you aren’t left with unclear expectations.

Overview

The Overview section is the equivalent to your first professional impression with the new client.  Party and service identification should be the major goals of this section. You should identify yourself as a Contractor to communicate that this is a one time engagement. I’ve also found success stating customer satisfaction policies in this section.

Terms of Service

The Terms of Service should accomplish one goal – a clear statement of the work to be accomplished.  The scope and authorization criteria should all be stated in this section.

The Scope of Services section will state the services you will render.  Packaging your services by focusing on the output is key for client understanding.  I normally use this section to specify the level of browser support.

In the Authorization section, the items the client will need to provide you with before work can be documented.  Common items I list here are access, copy and corporate images.  This reference in the contract will clear up most discrepancies on needs from the client.

Schedule

The focus of the Schedule and Payment Terms sections should be on the business side of the project.  These sections are the 2 most important sections to most clients because it enables them to assess the value of the engagement.  The major goal of these sections is to ensure project value to the client.

A Schedule will provide some accountability to your work, allowing the client to feel safe because there’s a timeline for completion.  A great practice is to focus on the delivery dates for the different outputs.  Be sure to set a realistic timeframe for deliverable completion and emphasize that these dates are dependent on timely communication and authorization by the client.

Payment Terms

When I first started freelancing, I required an equal portion of the payment upon the completion of deliverables before starting work on the next.  This practice gives clients freedom not to pay a deposit while still protecting me from being burned by bad clients.  I’d recommend this practice to new freelancers without an established portfolio.

In the Payment Terms section, all payment requirements should be identified.  Required deposits should be stated, as well as the rest of the terms of payment.  Identifying the timeframe of payment after invoice receipt will help you receive payments in a more timely fashion.

Maintenance

The Maintenance section is not necessary, but you will thank me for including it.  If no maintenance terms are stated, many clients will expect you to perform constant upkeep to the site or assist them with other types of support.  Stating rates for website support and other types of technical support will help shield you from clients assuming free assistance. This section will prove its worth the first time an old client contacts you for assistance with Outlook.

Limitation of Liabilities

The Limitations of Liabilities section will identify the intellectual property rights and state criteria for termination regarding both parties.  It’s also good practice to state you will not be responsible for any disruptions to the client’s current operations.  See my contract for more details.

Intellectual property rights should give you full ownership rights to all items generated from the start to end of the contract term.  It is also recommended that you mandate the client can not reuse or resell any items resulting from the engagement.

The Goods

The most important goal to set for your contract is to provide a sense of buy-in for your new client.  It’s essential to communicate what is required of your client so they understand the entire process.  Having a contract is now vital for freelancers to protect you if a negative situation arises.

Now what you were waiting for, a sample contract.  Enjoy and let me know what you think in the comments!

Sample Freelance Contract.docx

Sample Freelance Contract.doc

Sample Freelance Contract.rtf

Sample Freelance Contract.pdf

Disclaimer: I am in no way trained or qualified in the field of law or contract law.  My contract has been reviewed by a lawyer, but I should not be held liable for any contract issues that may result from the use of this contract.