Is a written contract necessary?

[87effa82]

I'm in the process of hiring a designer for t-shirts. Do you think it's good practice to send a written physical copy of the contract for the freelancer to sign, or is the Upwork contract enough?

[petra_r · Accepted solution]

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@renell B wrote:

I'm in the process of hiring a designer for t-shirts. Do you think it's good practice to send a written physical copy of the contract for the freelancer to sign, or is the Upwork contract enough?

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 Any contract is worth your physical, practical and financial ability to enforce. In other words: In almost all cases the paper it is (or is not) written on.

Ultimately the Upwork contract is enough, but if things go sideways, no contract really "protects" you in any meaningful way.

When you choose a freelancer, do your due diligence.

The right freelancer is the one who'd not do wrong by you even without any contract in place.

The wrong one won't be prevented or deterred from messing you about, regardless of how many contracts they sign.

[87effa82]

You are so right! Thank you!

[resultsassoc]

An agreed detailed description of scope of work, standards, expectations, timeline, staffing and payment terms is never a bad idea. On another platform I'm required to upload a plan for client and acceptance before the contract is officially awarded. I use the plan as the proposal, and it's labeled Draft until it meets my client's needs and mine.

Petra is correct about a good fit.

[prestonhunter]

The default Upwork contract is very, very good for clients.

All work done while logging time on an hourly contract automatically belongs to the paying client.

For most clients, if they are using an hourly contract and they regularly review the work being done by freelancers, they don't need a separate written contract.

A key to working on Upwork is to never "rely" on a contract.

If a freelancer is hired to do something, then a client or project manager needs to make sure that happens. Or stop working with the freelancer. A contract does not guarantee that something happens.