Compared a cheap retainer letter to a detailed scope of work and the difference was huge

I landed two clients last month. One signed a simple one page retainer letter and the other got a full scope of work with deliverables and timelines. The client with the easy letter kept adding requests every week and now owes me $600 from last month alone. The other client paid within 5 days of each invoice and never pushes back. Has anyone else noticed that clients who skip the paperwork are usually the ones who try to avoid paying?

2 comments

2 Comments

oliver_baker4912d ago

My cousin runs a handyman business and he learned this the hard way... he did a porch repair for a guy based on a handshake and a text message. The guy kept adding on little extras like painting the railing and fixing a loose step, then at the end claimed he'd only agreed to the original $400 quote. Now my cousin has a written contract for everything, even changing a lightbulb, because of that one job that cost him about $200 in materials he never got paid for.

nancyramirez12d ago

Learned that lesson myself the hard way years ago.