Hi David,

>Hi everyone,
>
>I've recently completed a medical application, which took more than a year to complete (on and off kind of work). All of the conceptual design, planning, and development was done by myself. The client's contribution was to provide me with knowledge about his particular specialty, the specific types of data to be included, and the types of studies that he wanted to perform with the completed application. Although, it took about a year for me to find out exactly what I needed to know. A lot of trial and error was involved, which lost me quite a bit of money. The client was extremely difficult to work with, and it was like pulling teeth to get information from him. I admit that I have not been in this business for too long, so it's taken a few bad experiences for me to learn how to design a contract that doesn't lose me money.
>
SNIP

Others will answer your question - I want to comment on your paragraph above.

If the client contracted you then it sure looks to me that s/he had at least some contribution to the conceptual design.

It looks pretty certain that you would really have nothing without the client's contribution of "knowledge about his particular specialty, the specific types of data to be included, and the types of studies that he wanted to perform with the completed application".

You should shoulder at least some of the blame for "Although, it took about a year for me to find out exactly what I needed to know. ". You say you're relatively new at this business, so hopefully you have learned some things about how to do this much more effectively in the future.
Similarly for "The client was extremely difficult to work with, and it was like pulling teeth to get information from him.", though in this case careful listening and observation and mock-up reviews and considered questions are keys.

I read some bitterness in your comments. Don't let stuff like that be overly influential in any contract you design. Rather, use such experiences to grow your non-technical skills so that you can work with any kind of client/user you come across.
I've been in this business a fair while now and I can honestly say that every new client has far more differences (from my previous clients) than similarities and every one takes some adaptation. I always try to remember that I'm doing something that's important to them or I wouldn't be there and that it's my job to convert what they tell me they need into something that does what they need.

Hopefully your work will get more and more rewarding as time goes by.

JimN