In my opinion—and since this is my blog, it’s all my opinion—if you’re going to get serious about your freelance work, you need a contract. A contract does several things for the designer—it provides protection, it lays out what you expect in terms of payment and it lets the client know what they can expect. Many sample contracts can be found via Google. There are a few constants you can find in all contracts:
The Contract, The Terms, The Works
This is the agreement that you and the client both sign, agreeing that everything outlined in “The Terms” and “The Works” is accurate.
This is the meat of the contract, this outlines the definition of terms, fees, disclaimers, completion of work and payment, intellectual property, rights and responsibilities and interpretation.
This section lists all the work you will be performing for the client and again the cost is stated.
Each section of the contract should be signed so it is clear that everyone has read and agrees to all items in said contract. The fine folks over at Media Surgery in the UK provides a free contract for download. They offer both Word and OpenOffice versions. If you decide to use their contract, leave them a comment to say thanks.
I’m not a lawyer and never plan to be one, so always, always, always defer to a lawyer for legal matters and advice.
My name’s Jen; I’m a cynical, sarcastic, ex-drummer who is fond of dark humor. I've held way too many factory & retail jobs but finally found my calling one Christmas holiday in a dark, musty basement. I am now a CSS & XHTML web standards looney and can be found daily—when I’m not at my Mac—at the local fair-trade coffee shop buying an iced-soy mocha no matter the temperature.
I am also the owner of Pop Stalin Design specializing in CSS & XHTML web design as well as custom WordPress themes.
Glad you got something from the post Chris! Thanks.
Great post, contracts are a definite must. Excellent point about providing protection and setting expectations for both you and the client. A good contract is beneficial for everyone.
Good point regarding what’s not included. Many a person, myself included, has found that out the hard way. In my case is was neglecting to state that stock imagery is not included. Never again
That is very true Lorissa, thanks for pointing that out!
Great post. It’s a good idea to get a standard contract written up and pay a lawyer to read it over and ensure you haven’t missed anything in your disclaimer, terms, rights etc. The small fee now may possibly prevent much larger issues down the road.
I would also advise being as detailed as possible about the work you are going to perform, as well as the work you are not going to perform. The latter is just as important.