As freelancers we are often faced with the situation in which one project may account for two to three months pay. I am talking about the kind of project that does not allow for any other open projects which would create a substantial income. I am also assuming that you have repeat clients whom you may perform one or two tasks for during the time you work on this large project, but again nothing that constitutes a substantial paycheck. Bottom line is you are relying on this project to keep the bills paid.

Keep in mind I will not be addressing cash reserves you may have in the business to keep you funcitoning in times of delayed income. This article is to look at project delays or cancellations and how I have been considering them in my contracts.

Moving on with the example project. I assume that you have received the appropriate down payment to begin work and have set out the terms of payment for the life of the project so that you will be compensated in a way that allows you to continue functioning as a business throughout. For example you have broken the payments into 4 equal parts, one at the beginning, one at the end and two in between.

You are happily past the design/prototyping stages and well into the development. In fact you are about 90% through to the third milestone or payment in the project and boom, the project is put on hold. Remember now that you have been paid twice at this point but have worked the last three weeks since and are now just days away from your third installment. Three weeks is a long time to go without a paycheck, especially considering that you have pushed out all other potential projects past the completion date of the project currently in motion.

Combating Delays and Indefinite Holds

It’s going to happen at some point in your career, a project will be delayed, postponed or other wise cancelled. The first step towards combating it is planning for it.

Address delays early on and put them in your contract. Delays can be caused by review periods that run over. Clearly define your review periods, when they will take place, the time allotted and the actions that will be taken if they run over.

0.1 Indefinite holds or cancellation of project.

I believe the best way to address this is by adding a short clause in your contract that states payment terms should a project be delayed or put in indefinite hold. Perhaps you agree that you will be paid for all work performed up to the point of delay based on a pre defined number of days that constitutes an indefinite delay. Another point to consider is, what if you are more than 90% done with a project and it is cancelled or delayed indefinitely just before launch. I recommend that a clause be in place stating that you will be paid in full if a project is past a certain percentage when put on delay. For example if you are past milestone two and on your way to three, calculate how far your are towards three and charge appropriately. If you state these terms in your contract beforehand it will be easier to address them should they come up and you are more likely to be paid.

0.2 Extra padding.

Address delays caused by change in scope. Sure a minor change that may take another half day of development time to implement will probably not disrupt the entire project or subsequent projects. However a change that can take considerable, let’s say a week of extra development time, will not only throw off the current project but quite possibly effect subsequent projects.

Address in your contract how these changes may effect both project timeline, payment schedules and accounting for subsequent and pre-scheduled projects.

For example if you find yourself working on a project that due to changes will run two weeks over, you can’t necessarily tell Company B (your next project) that their project will be delayed two weeks due to changes on your current contract. However Company A is not always receptive to the fact that their project although extended appropriately for the requested changes may be extended further due to contract obligations with other companies.

This final one seems to be a bit trickier and I have yet to find the perfect solution. Any thoughts here are appreciated.

I have yet to find a way to account for everything but by continuously adapting the way I do business I feel that I am able to protect myself and business in most cases.

I also suspect that I am not the only one who looks to prepare for these possibilities when it comes to contracts. I am interested to hear others take on these issues.

Don’t let it happen, breakdown your ground rules, your legalities and how you are going to bid each project before you ever need to write that first bid, proposal or contract. Figure out how you are going to gather (and sometimes pry) the important information from a client that will help you establish goals and develop scope for the project. Research your particular industry, find out what to watch how for, how to protect yourself and how to bid correctly.

Note: The next article in this series will cover working with your client to understand and develop goals, vision and desired results.

Then prepare to keep revising because just when you think you have it all covered a client will through you a curveball. As with everything in business you will need to constantly adapt, refine and figure out your best route when it comes to the paperwork.

This is by no means to be read as the final word in developing your own paperwork but as a guide to help the relatively new and inexperienced freelancer. It is a article written based of research and a lot of my own experience. I highly recommend research as many other sources as possible, this is an important aspect of your business and a critical one to your success. Attached to the end of this article you will find a short list of resources that should provide you with and excellent starting point.

Let’s get started.

Research & Ask Questions

One of the keys to developing a successful proposal and project for that matter is figuring out what the project is all about. As mentioned above, figure out the goals, the basic and the finer elements of the project. Find out why this project is being put together. Learn something about who you are working with.

Be Critical

My lack of the finer details in paperwork has bit me in the rear more than once. I would venture to say that I have spent countless unbilled hours doing things that where not necessarily “included in the price” but due to the fine line and my lack of detail I found myself having to suck it up. Establish your project guidelines, responsibilities and timeline in writing. Let the client know what is and what is not included in the package as well as letting them know what will constitute additional man hours. I feel like the more detail I put into the paperwork the better for both of us.

Be Realistic

Be realistic in terms of both time and money. Be honest with yourself and your client when you provide timelines for the project given the scope. When you first start it may be tricky to gage exactly how long a given task is going to take you but you more than likely have some idea and you damn sure did your research. You may feel a bit of pressure from the client to provide them a two week timeline when you know that it is going to take at least four, don’t succumb to the pressure it will save you both a lot of undue stress in the end. Be realistic and explain to them why it is necessary we take four and not two weeks to do this right.

On the flip side of that. If the project requires a rush then set your pricing accordingly. Sure it is possibly but it may mean outsourcing as well as overtime for you.

Key Points

Scope Through research and interaction with the client you should formulate what exactly the project is going to entail. What the goals are, what the client wishes to achieve etc. I’m not sure that it is necessary to be detailed down to the pixel in determining scope but I am sure that more detail provides less leeway for the project to sprout a third and fourth leg while it is in progress.

That is not to say that the project is not aloud to grow a third and fourth leg but it should be clearly defined in your paperwork that when that the third and fourth leg will require nurturing and thus more time. It will also require more vitamins and thus more money. Define additions, changes etc and how you will approach them. Always require that a client submit these type of changes in writing, make them aware of how these changes or additions affect the cost and timeline, then get approval before proceeding.

Don’t tell the client they can’t change their mind or add another section once the project is in progress but be sure to let them know that how it will affect the original contract, pricing and timeline.

Timeline & Milestones Define your timeline. Each project has a start date and and end date defined, put it down in writing. In between the start and end date should be project milestones. Dependent on the length of the project it could be 2 or 20. Set the milestones and let them know what each milestone means. This will give you the opportunity to set up review periods. It will also give you the chance to establish very clearly when deliverable a will arrive.

Review Periods Closely related and in fact a part of the topic above is the subject of review periods. I personally like to set review periods to coinside with milestones. Normally and I am sure this will depend on the number of decision makers involved in the project, I like to set review periods of three days at each milestone. One after the brunt of the wireframing and design has been completed. On midway as the majority of the strucuture is in place and one final review. It is good to note here that the number of milestones and possible review periods may increase or decrease depending on the size of the project. The review period in question for me is the second or halfway point. I have found this one to once in a while cause uneeded headaches if done to early in the development phase.

Changes and Revisions
Clearly define how changes and revisions will be handled in this project. You may allow for revisions in the initial design phase, let your client know how many. Let them know how revisions to the project will be charged. Make them aware that changes can result in an extension of the timeline. When you come to one of these changes, clearly define how it will effect the project and be sure to get approval before moving forward.

Responsibilities Discuss with your client and define responsibilities. Be sure that your client understands that delays in the delivery of certain aspects of the project such as content can in turn delay the project as a whole.

Examples of possible client responsibilities:

1. Logo
2. Copy
3. Images

Non-deliverables
Client responsibilities don’t always fall into the realm of deliverables such as the few listed above. It is also their responsibility to provide feedback and use review periods appropriately to keep the project on track. As I mentioned above this is why I schedule a certain number of days into each project for review. A few days at a time seems to be more than enough when you are dealing with single business owners or a small team such as partners. As you through more decision makers into the mix you will need to account for the extra time it may take for review.

To Sign or Not to Sign
It’s a good question. For a long time I went on a their word and mine. For the most part I never ran into a huge problem with this, however I also started to see where putting it in writing and requiring a signature could be beneficial so I started requiring a sign off before proceeding with the project. I personally have found echo sign to work very well for this requirement.

A few excellent resources to get started:

• Web Design Contracts: Why Bother (Digital Web)
• How to Effectively Tackle a $50000 Freelance Project (Freelance Switch)
• Creating a Web Design Contract (ReEncoded)
• Using Freelance Graphic Design Contracts (David Airey)
• Pragmatic Web Project Planning Series (The Same Barnes)
• Graphic Designer Contracts Agreements Forms and Web Designers Contracts (Outlaw Design Blog)
• Project Estimator (Astuteo)

There are plenty more of them out there, please feel free to add your resources below.

Please see the link to this article below for ideas on forming your own questionnaire, they pretty much have it covered.

So On the Topic of Client Questionnaires

My opinion is that starting off with a good “questionnaire” is key to getting the project off on the right foot. The discovery questions don’t necessarily need to be in the form of a document for the client to fill out as it can certainly be done over the phone with a notepad and pen. The important thing is knowing the right questions to ask.

With that, I do feel that a few simple questions sent out to the client on initial contact can definitely help you to not only learn about the client but decide if the project is right for you.

So I usually try to break it down into two steps. On initial contact I will send out a few basic questions concerning the project like budget, timeline, the general concept, etc. I do this through email as I don’t feel that attaching long documents at this point is necessary or beneficial in keeping the client interested in working with you. This short initial set of questions lets me screen the client without overwhelming them off the bat. I am able to discern a few things from this initial questionnaire, like whether or not I will be able to accomplish what they are hoping to do or how realistic their budget or timeline are for the project and so on.

From there I can usually shape a second set of questions that go more in depth and help me develop the quote. I actually have a template of questions that I can easily edit when certain things do not apply.

When first starting out, trying to land your first second or third client, you might be a bit hesitant to include this in your process. You may feel like sending a flurry of questions at a client will decrease your chances of landing the job. But I can assure that if done right, this will save you a lot of time and money in the long run.

A Few Tips

When doing this I find it helpful to explain why these questions are crucial to the process and how important it is that we try to get a firm grasp on the project beforehand. In the long run this will cut down the number of revisions, changes and additions necessary, which will in turn keep the pricing as close to the original estimate as possible. The bottom line is the more I know about a project and your business up front the smoother the project and the better the end result.

Obviously your client is going to interested in both saving money and getting superior quality, so this should calm any hesitation they may have about working with you to answer the questions. If explained correctly most clients will understand and be happy to fill out you questionnaire because as with anything they do in business proper planning is the difference between success and failure.

One last point – Throughout this process you have to remember that the client more than likely does not have a ton of experience when it comes to the project at hand so you should try to work with them to answer the questions.

Once you have the questionnaire completed it is really a matter of case by case. Sometimes the client comes back so detailed in their answers that I can immediately move on to determining scope, timeline and pricing. Other times I need to follow up with a phone call to talk certain aspects through with them.

Next on to the real paperwork.

Link to Freelance Switch