[consulting] Contract terms for retained services

[Alex Urevick-Ackelsberg]

-- Alex UA
On Dec 11, 2010 4:49 PM, "Jamie" <intoxination at gmail.com> wrote:
> Your list looks like you pretty much got the bases covered. One
> additional thing I have started doing, after a rather hard lesson, is to
> specify the site the retainer is for. I had a couple of clients think
> that because I was a retainer for their one site, that they could start
> using my services for a lot of new sites they were launching without any
> additional charges.
>
> Another good thing is limiting the contacts. Without that, you will
> start finding your client having everyone in their organization
> contacting you regarding problems, information or suggestions. That's
> the reason a lot of larger shops go with the one contact/contract model.
> Personally I'm not as strict on that, but make sure they know you won't
> become a babysitter to every person working for them. Even if it's a
> small company right now, you don't want to wake up one morning and find
> out they have grown and you now have a ton of people on you. That's
> something else I experienced years ago when starting out and it was way
> to much stress to handle.
>
> Jamie Holly
> http://www.intoxination.net
> http://www.hollyit.net
>
>
> On 12/11/2010 2:06 PM, Angelina Fabbro wrote:
>> Happy Holidays everyone,
>>
>> I am about to be on retainer with a new client during a period where I
>> assist in developing the specification for the project I will be
>> working on. It's a few weeks of research and design with regard to the
>> information architecture, interaction design and user experience. This
>> will be the first time I am on retainer for these activities.
>>
>> Usually my development contracts are simple; they lay out the
>> specification in detail, the quote I've given along with the design
>> comps for which the spec and quote are approved, and the necessary
>> legal jargon should any discrepancy in expectations arise.
>>
>> What sort of terms or clauses do you work under while on retainer? How
>> does your contract differ from one tailored to development? My
>> intuition is simply to lay out what the expectations are - response
>> time for emails and phone calls, allocated time for meetings, what to
>> expect as a finished product at the end of the period - wireframes,
>> for example.
>>
>> Is there anything specific I should do or not do?
>>
>> Thank you for you input, I enjoy lurking this list as you're all
>> invaluable in your advice.
>>
>> Best regards,
>>
>> - Angelina Fabbro
>>
>>
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