AvoidTerms and conditions printed on the back of the invoice.
Do this insteadTerms referenced on the quote, accepted when they accept the quote.
Terms introduced after agreement are usually worth nothing when it matters.
Example conversation with Contracts & Disputes
You
Draft terms for my business. What goes wrong for me is late payment and jobs growing halfway through.
Contracts & Disputes
Then those two clauses do the work and the rest is scaffolding.
Payment. 30 percent deposit on any job over £1,500, before materials are ordered. Balance within 14 days of completion. Statutory interest and fixed compensation on overdue business accounts.
Variations. Any work outside the written quote is priced separately and started only on your written approval. A text message counts as writing, which keeps it practical.
One more you did not ask for: define what completion means. Most scope arguments are actually arguments about whether the job is finished.
These go on the quote, not the invoice. Terms introduced after agreement are usually worth nothing.
Payment. 30 percent deposit on any job over £1,500, before materials are ordered. Balance within 14 days of completion. Statutory interest and fixed compensation on overdue business accounts.
Variations. Any work outside the written quote is priced separately and started only on your written approval. A text message counts as writing, which keeps it practical.
One more you did not ask for: define what completion means. Most scope arguments are actually arguments about whether the job is finished.
These go on the quote, not the invoice. Terms introduced after agreement are usually worth nothing.
It fixed the two things you named and caught the third that causes both.
Paste this to LEO
Draft terms and conditions for my [type of business]. The things that go wrong for me are [describe them, for example late payment or scope creep]. Keep it readable, not ten pages.
Try it on your business
Every lesson ends with a question to hand to a Greymill specialist, who answers with what it knows about your business.