April 8, 200818 yr Hi all , Here I go with my first post , be gentle with me !! I have recently being working with a client designing small sites for them, and we agreed on a set price per one (there was a lot of work so the fee was nominal). Now no contract was ever drawn up at the time , but things did run smoothly and still do ......... Now they are looking at furthering the relationship and giving me larger projects to work , and of course now a contract / non-disclosure agreement etc needs signing ... my questions are who should be writing up the contract , me or them ? should i mention my hourly rate or per day or per project ..... i'm pretty damn stumped and want to get it all watertight , and amicable for both sides as they have been a great company to freelance for . any help greatly appreciated !!
April 8, 200818 yr Whoever is providing the service should be writing the contract, in my opinion — unless you are employed by them, then it's their responsibility. Only mention your hourly rate if that is how the project is being charged. If it is a fixed fee for the whole project/chunks of the project, just put those numbers in the contract. Just make sure you have enough information in there to fall back on if things turn sour, but don't go overboard as it's there to protect the client as well.
April 8, 200818 yr Author Whoever is providing the service should be writing the contract, in my opinion — unless you are employed by them, then it's their responsibility. Only mention your hourly rate if that is how the project is being charged. If it is a fixed fee for the whole project/chunks of the project, just put those numbers in the contract. Just make sure you have enough information in there to fall back on if things turn sour, but don't go overboard as it's there to protect the client as well. I will be acting as a sub-contractor to this company , so it should be myself writing up the contract ? it is long-term and the projects i will be working on will vary in size , does anyone know of any reasonably straightforward contract templates / t&cs ??
April 8, 200818 yr If they aren't hiring you as an employee (which it sounds like they aren't), then you should write the contract as you are the one providing the service and terms. If you aren't charging per hour, and the projects are different, then you should be writing a contract for each project. I remember seeing a template for a contract on the forum somewhere, I'm not sure where though, but I bet someone else will link you up soon enough.
April 8, 200818 yr Author If they aren't hiring you as an employee (which it sounds like they aren't), then you should write the contract as you are the one providing the service and terms. If you aren't charging per hour, and the projects are different, then you should be writing a contract for each project. I remember seeing a template for a contract on the forum somewhere, I'm not sure where though, but I bet someone else will link you up soon enough. Thanks Rob for the advice , i became a freelancer for just that reason , that i am my own boss, i think they just want to make sure that all the work they provide to me gets first refusal before anything else i may take on (which is fair enough), should they not write up a contract saying they will give me £x amount each month for a 12mth period , and for me to write a contract up saying that i will give them x amount hours per week / non-disclosure etc... its just tricky putting all this into copy.
April 10, 200818 yr I consider writing my own contracts to be a good thing, as they can't weasel in T&Cs that I don't like. Here is a link to a helpful Freelance Contract Template previously posted on WDF. I would also be happy to copy particulars from the contract I use if you think that might be helpful. should they not write up a contract saying they will give me £x amount each month for a 12mth period , and for me to write a contract up saying that i will give them x amount hours per week / non-disclosure etc... its just tricky putting all this into copy. One contract can include all of these things. What I like to do is draw up a contract with general terms and then reference future Project Attachments as necessary. So your basic contract would have your hourly rate, non-disclosure agreement (NDA), time period for the contract (only if they are retaining you for a set timeframe irrespective of the projects you're doing), cancellation details, etc. Then you would include an Attachment (which you both sign off on) for each project. Example: Attachment A Project will involve writing 50 product descriptions for company and coding them into valid HTML/CSS. Client will have one revision opportunity. Contractor will be paid flat fee of $4,000 for project. Details... details... details... Attachment B Project will involve design of new company website and coding into valid HTML/CSS. Contractor will be paid hourly for this work and estimated time of completion is three weeks. Details... details... details... When new work comes your way, you write a new Attachment (or Spec, or whatever) and get them to sign off again, referencing the previous contract.
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