So it just dawned on me, after having spent yet another weekend on this project, that maybe there should be a cap on the time or the number of revisions allowed within the scope of the bid.
Oh wait, we do have a cap in our contract. So (scratching my head), why am I now working on revision #4,536,136? Oh, that’s right, because this is for the one client that we have for whom we did not prepare a formal contract for.
This brings to light a fundamental concept… Contracts are for people who think they don’t need contracts.
If we deal with someone who is insistent on a contract, you can be assured they are the type of client that likes to know exactly what they are buying and will ask for little more or less than what they pay for.
If, on the other hand, a client shrugs at the concept of a contract, and tells us that it’s not necessary, or even worse, that it’s too formal, then you can bet that we will be working 10x harder than what we had agreed to.
In fact, even having a formal contract may not be good enough if the contract is not very specific. Regardless, one thing’s for sure, not having a contract at all is a certain recipe for disaster.