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Ask HN: Sample for web development contracting agreement?

1 points by ebaysucks ↗ HN
I am about to hire a web development shop to make the 1.0 version of my new project.

I won't use Odesk, Elance or any such service.

What are the key components the contract should cover?

So far I have: - Description of deliverables - Timeline of project - Payment schedule if timeline is met - Financial punishment for failing timeline - IP goes to client - Assigning arbitrator in case of unresolvable dispute - Service level agreement

3 comments

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ricknew
You could consider stopping at "Description of deliverables", then pay the prospective development team to help refine the deliverables spec/scope and on that basis create the additional items. You might also consider including a couple of iterative cycles to further refine the deliverables as the project develops and adjust the timeline payment schedules accordingly. In my limited experience, it is rare to be able to clearly define deliverables before you get into the project development.

Taking this approach might help you decide if you want to work with the chosen team and take your project forward another step.

ebaysucks
Yes, thank you. We indeed did feature prioritization and have three release dates for alpha, beta and final 1.0.

So far I feel quite confident about the development shop.