Internet Downloaded Contract Templates are never good for a business.

Especially if you are selling a custom service.

Because sooner or later you run into troubles.

In 99% of the cases, it's easier to draft something from scratch than fix a template.

And in this, we take care of that 1%.

Our client was running a web development agency.

Till now they have been working with clients with a template.

Sometimes their client also provided their own contracts.

But now they were taking on bigger projects and wanted to be more cautious, and hence, ran their template through us.

They needed us to review the template and revise any issues.

Problems:

1. Scope Creep:

In some cases, they have faced problems with clients who kept increasing the work scope.

And constantly kept asking for revisions on the project.

And all this without paying additional cost because nothing was mentioned to handle this situation.

2. Design Disputes:

In some cases, they have had disputes about content or designs to be provided for the website.

Again, no clarity was given to set the expectations right.

3. Sorting Out Liability:

Overall they wanted to streamline everything.

Things were messy, which was creating a bit of liability for them.

So overall they wanted to limit their liabilities if things go sideways in any manner.

Solutions:

1. Improved Clarity:

Some portions of the document were too rigid.

Such as it provided a fixed timeline without considering the changes in the timeline if the same happens due to the client’s fault.

We took into account several factors which will be considered as an extension in the final deadline provided.

The contract was also unclear at certain points.

For example, it mentioned that the “agency will provide regular updates and communication”.

But how regular?

So we provided language to define the actual frequency of updates and communication - weekly, bi-weekly, etc.

2. Streamlined Processes:

The contract mentioned that acceptance of work by a client will be required for the release of funds.

But what if there was a temporary dispute, causing the whole project to stop?

What about in that state of suspension? No answers were there.

We provided Acceptance Criteria with a provision for deemed acceptance by the client.

The contract also had no provision addressing “revisions”.

We made provisions for “what would be considered as revision and what will be considered as additional scope” and implications for each.

3. IP Provisions Were Fixed:

Many templates make mistakes in IP, particularly copyright provisions.

They are ambiguous about who will be owning the copyright over the project.

So we added the provision for the automatic conveyance of IP on creation and not payment.

And we also protected the payment of the agency in other ways, which gave confidence to both sides overall.

We also added provisions for obligating the client to provide content and taking on any liability for providing copyrighted material.

Because we don't want to be held liable for something that's not our fault.

We further put a cap on the liability provision.

A base hour provision for additional scope, these were just some of the fixes that were made.

The Contract was updated to match the expectations of the Web Development Agency.

It was created to match the level of customization and quality they wanted.

We also put a cap on the liability provision and added a base hour rule for any extra work!

Contract, in most cases, will clear any unjust expectations out of the project.

And it would also give you more clarity on what you could get out of a project.

But you only find answers when you start asking questions about what could go wrong.

Good luck!

I hope you enjoyed this week's case study!

If you ever need a custom solution like this, don't hesitate to reach out! :)

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Have a great rest of the Sunday!

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