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Rant: Everyone says to use a contract but mine took 3 weeks to fix after a client changed their mind.
I paid a lawyer $400 for a standard freelance contract, but when a client suddenly wanted to pay half upfront instead of the full project fee, it took me 20 hours over three weeks to get the payment terms and scope adjusted correctly with my lawyer's help. Has anyone found a faster way to handle contract changes without losing a week's work?
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maryadams5mo ago
Man that sounds so familiar. I spent $350 on a template that fell apart the first time a client asked for milestone payments. What saved me was creating a simple change order addendum. Now when a client wants to adjust terms, I draft a one page document stating the change, attach it to the original contract, and we both sign. My lawyer reviewed the first one for $150, and now I reuse that format. It cuts the back and forth down to a couple emails instead of weeks.
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palmer.ryan4mo ago
Totally feel you @maryadams. I had the same panic when a long term client wanted to shift from a flat fee to a retainer model after the project was half done. My original contract had nothing for that. I ended up just handwriting changes on a printed copy and we both initialed next to them. It felt sketchy but it worked. Now I keep a simple PDF with blank fields for "old term" and "new term" ready to go.
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ray7235mo ago
Oh wow, I was totally in the "just get a lawyer" camp before too. But after a client wanted to switch from net-30 to net-60, my fancy contract was useless and I lost so much time. Now I keep a basic change template, just like a one page thing for new terms. I fill in the blanks, they sign it, and it's done. Saved my butt last month.
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