

Ask HN: Sample for web development contracting agreement? - ebaysucks

I am about to hire a web development shop to make the 1.0 version of my new project.<p>I won't use Odesk, Elance or any such service.<p>What are the key components the contract should cover?<p>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
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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.

