Ignoring other benefits like assigning liability, a contract isn't going to be able to force your client to pay under all circumstances anyway. Clients can alwa

Ignoring other benefits like assigning liability, a contract isn't going to be able to force your client to pay under all circumstances anyway. Clients can always argue the work wasn't up to the standard they were expecting, they could later disagree with the interpretation of the requirements, clients can go bankrupt and be unable to pay you etc. In terms of getting paid, knowing which clients and projects to avoid, controlling scope creep, setting expectations and structuring work to get paid as you go are more important in my opinion. Once you're at the stage of pointing to contract terms the project is probably on rocky territory already where your client isn't going to be happy at the end of it. Get a contract as well but I keep reading people talking about getting "air tight contracts" as if they're the most important part of getting paid.