In a time long, long ago, a handshake was all that was needed to establish a working relationship. That level of trust was so strong that to break it was to damage your credibility beyond repair. In the time of snake oil salesmen, the smart people knew who to avoid and who they could trust. A couple of hundred years later, the sharks are out to make a killing and caveat emptor; “Let the buyer beware” are the words of the day.
So, to the rescue come the lawyers who with their contracts and
quarter-hour legal fees tame the land and make it safe for all to do
business in an ethical manner, except understanding their legal mumbo
jumbo for one side often requires another lawyer to get involved for the
other side. And, so it goes in this great land of ours.
Only today it is also complicated by caveat venditor, “Let the seller
beware”, where the seller of products of services must also be careful.
Now, we’re so busy being careful it becomes hard to make money, or do a
good job. Who can you trust? Along comes Snake Oil Web Design
Company, who promises to get your custom Web site up and running in less
than an hour for free. All you have to do is sign on the dotted
line and read the fine print, if your monitor will display print that
small.
That explains why so many people go to their friends to get help.
Joe has done a website. I can trust him to do a good job. Or,
they decide to do it themselves since they can’t trust anyone.
But, these two options can have negative effects far greater than the
costs of legal counsel.
When first starting a Web design business most people don’t feel they
need to use a contract. Sometimes they feel that getting paid up
front first will alleviate the need, or they feel that if they ask
someone to sign a contract, they will think that they are not to be
trusted, or the contract will scare them away. In dealing with large
companies a contract is essential if only for the fact that employees
come and go and having some legal papers outlining the commitment can
protect both sides.
All of the above may be true, but if a customer tells you that they
don’t want to work with a contract, then my advice would be to avoid
doing work for them. Contracts should not be viewed as a device to
protect one side from the other, but more as a mechanism to enable both
sides to work together and better understand the project at hand.
A contract goes hand-in-hand with the documentation to initially define
the project. The contract will include the specifications for the
work in such a way as to not allow one side to forget what was agreed
to. So, contracts are a way of getting both sides to agree and
understand, and will alleviate unnecessary worry later on when the
customer, says, “I thought the website was to have 12 pages.” You can
show them that they agreed to 11 pages. At this point you have a
way of either making more money, or establishing some additional rapport
by saying, “With our current design, an additional page will not be a
significant extra cost, but some extra time will be necessary.”
One of the most important aspects of a contract is to limit the number
of drafts that will need to be reviewed and changed. Two rounds
are typical, but if clients want more, then it’s an easy thing to revise
in the contract up front. The importance is that the client
understands that they will not be able to make changes forever. It
will encourage them to review and think about the design on each
iteration of the testing cycle. The initial contract should also
spell out the fact that maintenance of the site is contained in a
separate maintenance contract.
The contract is also the most effective way of outlining the payment
terms. Upon signing the contract it is usual to get all expenses
paid for domain name acquisition and hosting along with a predetermined
down payment. For small projects this can typically be 50% of the
project cost. For larger projects it can be broken into a few
milestones. Final payment is usually made before the final,
approved site is uploaded. This gives both the client and the
designer an incentive to complete the project.
Regarding intellectual property, copyrights and trademarks, it is
important to point out to clients that anything that is put on their
website is their responsibility. The must be sure that all
copyright issues are addressed. Many people assume that they can
copy text and pictures from another website just because they can do it
or that a copyright notice is not present. Nothing could be
further from the truth. If it’s not yours, get approval to show it
on your site. Internet copyright law is being revised and updated
often as the industry matures and grows. This is an area where an
intellectual property attorney can be very helpful.
Sample contracts for Web design work are commonly available on the
Internet. Your attorney should be familiar with electronic media and
intellectual property law. You should be in agreement with your attorney
on the content of the standard contact and he/she should be involved in
any changes that can possibly be misconstrued.
In the end the presence of a contract can help all to sleep better.
Produced by Right Point Web, LLC. Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.
