[Wind] Request for Consulting Contract Samples

[richb at pioneer.ci.net (richb at pioneer.ci.net)]

Bill Horne wrote:
> I am looking for examples of a brief, comprehensive contract to customize.

Bob Emery replied:
> > My advice is to hire an attorney. You are talking about a *CONTRACT*,
> > correct?

Jerry replied:
> Take a look at Contractors Resources. 
> http://www.contractorsresources.com/

I spent the 1980s and a couple of years in the 1990s doing contract work.
NEVER once did I talk to or retain an attorney for this.  More recently
I've hired "contractors" to do home improvements.  Again, NEVER once have
I discussed this with an attorney; in fact, even when disputes have
arisen, home improvement "contractors" simply never look at the paperwork
once the homeowner signs the "contract" for work to begin (the check
attached to it is what matters, and the followup payments are how you
manage the work-flow).

Contracts for employment are, IMHO, never read and never looked at
again unless the stakes are REALLY high (half a million or more).  If
you're talking a typical $50 to $125 hourly T&M (time and materials)
work for hire arrangement, you really don't have to stress yourself
out over the employment agreement.

The NACCB (www.naccb.org) has a contractor agreement in use by a
number of the local consultant brokers in the area.  Find someone who
has hired computer consultants recently, and use their agreement to
get started.  If you haven't done this before, then call up one of the
big guys (don't know who the players are now, used to be
Kenda/CEI/Winter-Wyman/Contract Solutions et al) and do a gig or two
with them until you know the ropes.  For the situation have now, get
out a crayon and write "will do X, Y, Z and such other work as mutually
agreed upon, for $XX per hour, payable biweekly according to
timesheets signed off by designated employer contact, for XXX months
unless terminated in writing".  A contract need not be more than a
couple paragraphs long.

Most of you who read this will consider this facetious, and to a certain
extent it is.  But I just went through this exercise with a friend who
wasted a full TWO WEEKS fretting about what to put in an employment
agreement--the lost wages far exceed the value of the silly document.
If you don't have a friend who has done this for a living recently, go
to the Verizon yellow pages, look for the heading "Computers--System
Designers & Consultants", and schedule a couple of informational interviews
with their managers.  I think a consultant broker will be more helpful than
an attorney.

-rich
P.S. To Jerry:  where is the meat in that resource website?  I see an ad
for a home-office benefits subscription service but it doesn't say much
about what they'll do for you.