A solid contract protects your income, reputation, and sanity. Here are the five clauses every freelancer should include — whether you're quoting $500 or $50,000.
1. Payment Terms & Schedule
"50% due upon signing, 50% due upon delivery. Payment is due within 7 days of invoice. Late payments incur a 1.5% monthly fee." Be specific. Vague terms like "payment upon completion" leave room for endless delays.
2. Scope of Work
This is the most important clause. List every deliverable, every revision round, and every exclusion. "Includes: 6-page website design with 2 rounds of revisions per page. Excludes: content writing, photography, SEO optimization, and ongoing maintenance." If it's not listed, it's not included.
3. Intellectual Property Transfer
"All intellectual property rights transfer to the client upon receipt of final payment." This is standard. The key detail: "upon receipt of final payment." If they don't pay, they don't own the work. Some freelancers add: "Source files delivered upon final payment."
4. Cancellation & Kill Fee
"Either party may cancel with 14 days written notice. Client is responsible for payment of all completed work plus 25% of remaining project value as a kill fee." Without this, a client can cancel mid-project and leave you with half-finished work and no income.
5. Limitation of Liability
"Freelancer's total liability shall not exceed the total fees paid for the project." This protects you from disproportionate lawsuits. If a $5,000 website has a bug that causes alleged damages, your exposure is capped at $5,000.
Build It Into Your Proposal
The easiest way to handle contracts: include your terms in the proposal itself. When the client signs (via GetProposalFlow's e-signature), they've accepted your terms. No separate contract needed for most freelance projects under $25K.