Can I use email to create a work contract?

NickB, post: 14595 a écrit : I'm testing the waters with a web development/security business idea and I've managed to attract my first potential clients, one of whom I've sent an estimated project cost to and I'm going to call today. In the past I took on a large freelance project and naively didn't create a contract with the client. The client ran into money issues and refused to pay and to my knowledge I was helpless to do anything but refuse to hand over the project having wasted many hours on it. I want to avoid this situation again with my new venture so I'm looking for some advice.

Can I create a legally binding contract via email and does anyone have any advice on doing so? I'm thinking I could possibly write a document detailing the work I'll do and the cost of the work and send this to the client via email asking them to confirm via an email response that they agree to pay for the services detailed in the attached document and I can commence work on the project. Does this sound okay?

Email can constitute a legally binding contract, provided you get confirmation from the client that they agree the pricing structure etc and they clearly authorise the work be carried out. Your idea sounds OK but if it were tested in court it certainly wouldn't be guaranteed to be enough. Just so you know ;)

However as a general rule we would always, always, always recommend that you get some appropriate T&C's drawn up by a reputable legal eagle. Although we appreciate this can be expensive to new start ups...

You may also want to have a look at staggering your payments on completion of specific tasks. This will help minimise any "creep" on your time Ie the client changing the spec in development and also minimise your risk regarding non payment.

Plus at absolute worst if you complete the first stage and they don't pay, you will only have lost the initial hours and not a whole projects worth of time....

Good luck, and if you do hit any problems regarding payment feel free to give a call for a free no pressure consultation :banana

That's great, thank you very much for your reply!