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I kept using the same contract for every client for years, until a project in Austin went sideways.
I sent my standard agreement for a big website build, and the client just signed it without a word. Halfway through, they asked for a whole new feature set that wasn't covered. I realized my contract didn't clearly say what 'the project' actually was. A lawyer friend looked it over and said, 'Amy, this is too vague, you're asking for trouble.' Now I write a detailed scope of work for every single job and attach it to the contract. Has anyone else had to rebuild their main contract from scratch after a bad experience?
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amy2687mo ago
My old contract was basically a napkin with "build website, get paid" written on it. I learned the hard way after a client thought "revisions" meant a full second website for free. Now my scope document is longer than some books I've read.
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graymiller7mo ago
A full second website for free is a wild interpretation of revisions. That's the exact kind of nightmare scenario a long scope document is meant to stop. You can't leave any room for that sort of creative misunderstanding.
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mitchell.shane6mo ago
So what did that second website argument actually look like? Like, did they send over a totally new site map and say "here are my revisions," or was it more of a slow creep where each small change just shifted the whole project? I'm trying to picture the moment you realized you weren't on the same page at all.
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