What details should you include in your consulting agreement?

Individuals who have specialized expertise often prefer to lend their expertise to other companies on an as-needed basis as a consultant where they can set their own rates instead of working for a single employer for a set salary. While working as a consultant can be an exciting career, your consulting contract needs to be airtight if you want to make sure that you get paid. One critical piece of information that should be listed in your consulting contract is the names of the parties agreeing to work together along with their affiliations or roles. Another important detail that needs to be included in a consulting contract is a description of the scope of the project. You should be clear about what you’re doing, whether it’s doling out advice, drafting a document, planning an event or something else. You should document what type of payment you expert for performing the work that you’ve committed to performing. You’ll also want to clearly define what the delivery date for the project is. If you’re expecting to get paid for certain portions of your work at certain milestones, then you’ll need to document when those dates are. Your contract should also state how you two have agreed to handle added expenses such as office or travel costs. Your agreement should also detail whether there’s a revision period and if so, when a project is considered to be finished. Your consulting contract should specify how soon you expect to get paid after invoicing a client, what types of payment you accept and where it should be sent. Any consulting contract that you draft should also include provisions or disclaimers. One of these should clearly state the circumstances under which both of you can pull out of your contract and what the penalties are, if any, associated with each of you doing so. In the olden days, individuals would simply lend their talents to help their fellow man without expecting much if anything in return. Time equals money nowadays though. The insight that a consultant may provide a company with may aid them in growing their net worth substantially. This is why consultants request that companies that they work with compensate them fairly for their time. An attorney here in Cincinnati can help you draft a consulting agreement that will protect your interests to the fullest extent under Ohio law.