c/freelance-contracts

Finally stopped ignoring the kill fee clause after a client ghosted me on a $2,800 project last month

Lost a full month of income because I figured it'd never happen, but now I'm wondering how many others here actually enforce kill fees or just let them slide to keep the peace?

3 comments

matthewking•13d ago

Caught a scope creep clause that saved me $400 on a single rewrite

I was reviewing a new contract last month from a web design client and almost missed this line that said 'minor revisions included' with no cap. After my second round of changes, they asked me to rebuild the whole homepage layout for free. I swapped it to a 3 revision limit with additional work billed at $75 per hour. Has anyone else had a client try to stretch 'minor revisions' into a full redesign?

3 comments

abby_fisher•14d ago

Wasted $80 on a template contract pack from some random site

Last fall I needed a quick service agreement for a small project in Atlanta. I saw this ad for a freelance contract bundle with like 50 templates for $80. Figured it was a steal, you know? But when I downloaded it, the language was super generic and full of weird clauses about things I don't even do (like licensing software). I ended up spending three hours tweaking it and still felt nervous. Then I found out the template had an outdated indemnity section that could have left me exposed. So I scrapped the whole thing and wrote my own from scratch. Has anyone else bought a cheap template pack and regretted it?

3 comments

margaret551•14d ago

Rant: My scope creep clause went from lifeline to joke in 6 months

I used to have a solid clause that let me charge extra if a project went over 3 rounds of edits. Then I landed a big client in Phoenix who pushed it to 8 rounds on a $500 logo job. My clause said I could bill more but they argued it was 'minor adjustments' every time. Now I've rewritten it to define each round as a set list of changes. Has anyone else had a client test the limits of your scope language like that?

3 comments

jana509•16d ago

Had a client ghost after signing because his contract had tiny typos

I was sitting at my kitchen table in Austin last June, just finished a three week project for a startup guy. Both of us signed the contract on DocuSign. Then he emails me saying he noticed 'a few little spelling errors' in the scope section and he's not paying until I fix it. I spent four hours arguing over commas and a missing period. He never paid the full $1,200. Said the contract felt 'unprofessional.' I should have just sent a clean version day one and avoided the whole thing. Anyone else had a client nitpick format instead of deliverables?

3 comments

wesley639•16d ago

Question about how long people wait before sending a revision request

I used to send revision requests the same day I got feedback, but after losing a $600 project because the client said I was rushing them, I started waiting 48 hours. Has anyone else run into timing issues with contract terms around revision windows?

3 comments

lisas78•16d ago

Tried a kill fee clause on my last 3 contracts. Zero of them paid it.

Added a 25% kill fee if they cancel after I start work. Thought it would protect me. Client cancelled after 2 drafts. Refused to pay. Said it 'wasn't in the spirit of our partnership.' Contract said it clearly but I didn't want to fight over $400. Learned that a clause is only good if you're willing to enforce it. Anyone actually collected on a kill fee?

3 comments

kim_mason55•18d ago

Hit $50k in freelance income this year and it changed my contract approach

I always kept my contracts super simple. Just hourly rates and vague timelines. Hit $50k in earnings last month though. That number made me realize I needed better contracts. Got burned on a $4k project where the client kept adding scope. Now I use strict milestone payments and a change order clause. Way less stress now. Anyone else hit a number that made them rethink their contracts?

3 comments

oliver_baker49•20d ago

That stat about 30 day payment terms killing small freelancers shocked me

I was reading a thread on r/freelance last night and saw someone post that 60% of freelancers who accept net-30 terms end up chasing payments past 60 days. That made me dig into my own contracts and realize I've been leaving $4,000 sitting out there for 3 months on average. How do you guys handle net-30 vs demanding upfront deposits without losing the job?

3 comments

perry.jesse•20d ago

Warning: never sign a contract with a net-90 payment clause unless you have savings

Has anyone else dealt with net-60 or net-90 terms totally wrecking your cash flow?

3 comments

webb.hannah•22d ago

Just rewrote my payment terms after a client skipped town owing me $850

I had a client in Chicago ghost me last month after I finished a 40 hour web dev project, and they still owed me $850. Has anyone else added a deposit clause to their contracts after getting stiffed like that?

3 comments

kai839•24d ago

Lost $200 on a retainer clause I didn't read carefully

Signed a contract with a marketing agency back in March that had a 90-day retainer minimum. I figured I'd need it but their work was garbage by week 4. Tried to cancel and they pointed to the clause that locked me in for the full three months. Lost $200 on work I didn't even use and now I read every word before I sign. Has anyone else gotten burned by hidden retainer terms?

3 comments

white.keith•26d ago

That $300 'unlimited revisions' clause cost me a month of work

I took a logo design project back in March for a local coffee shop in Portland. Their contract had a line that said 'unlimited revisions until final approval.' Sounded great at first. But the owner kept tweaking tiny things for six weeks straight. Colors, fonts, spacing, you name it. I ended up spending like 40 extra hours on it with zero extra pay. Finally I said no more and walked away. Now I always cap revisions at three rounds in my contracts, with a fee for anything beyond that. Has anyone else had a client milk an unlimited clause like that?

3 comments

wells.evan•29d ago

Flat rate vs. hourly for a 3 month project I just wrapped up

I had to choose between a flat $4,000 fee or $45 an hour for a website update job that ended up taking me 90 hours. I went with hourly because I was scared of scope creep, and the client added three extra revisions along the way. Has anyone else picked flat rate and actually come out ahead on a long project like this?

3 comments

noahwood•1mo ago

Warning: that "scope of work" clause saved me $2,000

Was in a coffee shop in Austin last spring. Client kept adding small requests. Didn't think much about it. Then the project doubled. I had a vague SOW. No mention of revisions or limits. She hit me with a $2k invoice for extra work I did. Had to pay it. My bad. Now I write every single deliverable in the contract. And a cap on revisions. Has anyone else been burned by a loose SOW?

3 comments

wesley639•1mo ago

Lost $200 on a retainer clause I didn't read carefully

I signed a contract with a client that said I had to be available 20 hours a week, but it didn't say they had to actually give me that much work. Ended up holding two months open for them and they only sent me 5 hours total. Has anyone else been burned by a vague availability clause like that?

3 comments

ivan462•1mo ago

Had a chat with my neighbor who's a lawyer that changed how I write scope sections

My neighbor Jeff is a contract lawyer and I was grilling burgers last Saturday when he asked to see one of my freelance contracts. He read the scope part and just laughed. Said my description of "design work" was so vague a judge could fill a pool with the loopholes. He pointed out three sentences where a client could claim something was out of scope just by saying they didn't remember agreeing to it. Now I rewrite every scope paragraph to list exact deliverables like "3 homepage mockups with 2 revision rounds max" and I haven't had a single dispute since. Anyone else had a non-freelancer friend or relative spot something obvious in your contracts?

3 comments

cora813•1mo ago

That friend who told me to put cancellation clauses in every contract

My buddy Mark said always add a 30 day cancellation notice. I ignored him for 2 years. Just had a client vanish mid project with no warning and no payout.

3 comments

michael_williams•1mo ago

Scope creep got me on a logo project in Austin last spring

I was sitting in a coffee shop on South Congress when a client messaged asking for 'just a few tweaks' to a logo I'd already finalized. Those tweaks turned into 3 new versions, 2 color palette overhauls, and 11 extra emails over two weeks before I realized I'd never put a revision limit in the contract. How do you guys handle clients who treat 'minor adjustments' like a buffet line?

3 comments

quinn341•1mo ago

Spent 2 years using a generic contract template from a friend, then a guy at a coffee shop in Portland told me my kill fee was vague

He pointed out a line that said 'cancellation fee negotiable' and asked if I ever actually got paid for a cancelled project, and I realized I never had because there was no real number to enforce, so has anyone else found a specific kill fee percentage that actually works across different types of work?

3 comments

evan_grant70•1mo ago

Put a cancellation fee clause in my last contract and a client actually invoked it after 3 days

I do web design for small businesses in Portland. Last month I added a 25% cancellation fee if they back out after I start work. Client signed it, I spent 8 hours on wireframes, then they emailed saying they changed their mind. They paid the 25% without arguing. I made $400 for two days of work but lost the whole project. Now I'm wondering if that clause scared them off instead of working through their concerns. Has anyone else had a client pay a cancellation fee and still feel like you lost in the long run?

3 comments

wells.evan•1mo ago

Just caught a clause in a standard contract that blew my mind

I was going over a boilerplate agreement a buddy sent me last week and I almost missed it. There was a tiny line buried in the payment terms that said the client could hold 20% of the fee until 90 days after I delivered the final file. I had no idea that was even a thing in standard contracts. I looked it up on a legal blog for freelancers and apparently it's called a 'retention clause' and it's super common in certain industries. It's meant to cover hidden defects but for creative work it just feels like a way to push off payment. Has anyone else run into this kind of hidden holdback in their own contracts?

3 comments

henryr45•1mo ago

Client told me my payment terms were "aggressive" - so I changed them

This freelancer I met at a coffee shop in Portland straight up told me my net 15 terms were scaring off new clients. I thought offering a 5% discount for early payment was generous but she said it came off as desperate or pushy depending on who reads it. So I switched to net 30 with a 2.5% late fee after 45 days and put it in plain language instead of legalese. Within two months I signed on three new regulars who said they appreciated not feeling rushed. I kept the 5% early bird discount but as a separate checkbox they can opt into. Has anyone else had to adjust their payment window based on feedback from a stranger?

3 comments

matthewking•1mo ago

I finally hit $5k in a month for the first time after fixing my scope of work section

Been freelancing for 2 years and never cracked $3k until I rewrote my contract to clearly list what is and isn't included, and suddenly clients stopped asking for extra revisions for free - has anyone else seen that big a jump just from better wording?

3 comments

kevin_williams•1mo ago

Pro tip: I put a 'bad vibes clause' in my contract and a client actually tried to test it

Last month, I added a joke clause about a $50 fee for every passive-aggressive email from a client. They sent 8 in one week, so I invoiced for $400 and they actually paid it without complaining. Has anyone else ever had a weird clause backfire in a funny way?

3 comments