>>I have a potential client who wants to pay a fix price per project, as opposed to an hourly rate. As things might get trcky, I would like to know what should I expect. Does anybody know where I can find a draft to a similar contract ?
>>TIA
>>Sorin
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>I don't know where to get the language, but make ABSOLUTELY sure that you have VERY STRONG language outlining the definition and requirements of change orders. A fixed price can be good for both sides, but if the project is not scoped out in detail prior to starting, then there's no way you can predict what kinds of twists and turns the road ahead may carry. I've never seen a project where there weren't reasonably significant changes in scope in the middle of the project. I think it's called development feature bloat. Be very cautious.
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>HTH
>
>Matt

We do a lot of contract programming and always run into this problem. No client knows exactly what they want at the beginning, and every project suffers from "functionality creep". What we have had to (which is really a pain) is start with a *very detailed* functional spec., and then add a written bid/proposal agreement for each new feature requested by the client. Again, be very careful that your client knows exactly what the agreement entails up front, otherwise every little thing that comes along, "obviously was included under the original contract, as any fool would know that the program would just have to do that."

Good luck,
Paul