The dotted line: Drawing up your Quotes & Contractual Agreements

There is a misconception that a detailed contract will scare clients away. We’ve found that a detailed contract will give your client an ease in terms of the project because they understand your expectations. They’ll know that you’re a serious business doing serious work on their behalf. The contract stands to protect the client as much as it does to protect you. For this reason, I recommend writing your own document rather than copy and pasting somebody else’s legalese attempt.

General

Add your logo, contact details and company business registration information like company registration number, tax/vat number and list of members, this should appear on every page. Also, number each page accordingly.

The Cover Letter or Introduction

Start with today’s date. Trust me, you’ll be looking back at the date and validity of the quote, sometimes months afterwards when the client goes ahead. Mention the clients’ name, project and a brief ‘thank you’ here; I don’t recommend a long canned paragraph, but a few lines should suffice.

Project Scope

Outline exactly what the quote is for. It’s no good to only state an overall fee, that’s useless. The further the breakdown, the better. Itemize each of the products and services that you intend to supply and provide. Explaining the costs before the client has to ask, also shows you’re not hiding anything in a lump sum total.

The Fee Breakdown

Note the prices that you intend to charge. You might also want to make them aware of how you arrived at the fee. Mention the price for additional renders or more animation, etc. Be sure to list the VAT, the project total and deposit you require.

Project Guidelines

You could include milestones, timing and contact people here. It’s probably also a place to include any specific procedures that you work by.

Terms and Conditions

Perhaps the most important part of a contractual agreement, the terms and conditions protect both you and the client.

When we first wrote our contract we created a brief outline of the things we felt were important, for example: If a project gets cancelled two thirds into development – how are fees reconciled? Is there a client refund? How many days after the fact should this be processed?

We found covering yourself in every eventuality can save you from costly and time-consuming mistakes.

Once we’d written these up, our attorney reviewed and legalized the agreement. I think this is an important step to take because if things ever do spin out, you would want to ensure your butt is covered legally.  Maybe don’t let the attorney write the entire contract – they’re not in your industry and they won’t necessarily understand your processes. It will look like a lease with pointless information that isn’t relative to your industry.

You might want to cover:

• Copyright
• Liability
• Termination
• Data retention
• Asset ownership
• Time expectations
• Confidentiality
• Payment terms
• Portfolio integration
• Cancellation
• General items like travel, etc

Agreement

There must be a page or section that the client can sign and return to you confirming their understanding of the contract and agreement of your fee structure. Don’t start the job until you have recieced this – especially with newer clients. You might want to include a clause in your terms that states that if a deposit is paid then the client, in paying, agrees to the terms. Clients might also send an official order via email. This is legally as binding as signing the contract, but is not the preferred method for contractual agreement.

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