I HIGHLY recommend adding a LOT of language to the contract that deals with the exact terms of payment. Some things to consider: 1) What are the late penaltie

I HIGHLY recommend adding a LOT of language to the contract that deals with the exact terms of payment. Some things to consider: 1) What are the late penalties if they don't pay on time? 2) What are the penalties if they (or you) cancel the contract? 3) What happens if you can't meet a milestone or deadline because they didn't give you a deliverable on time? Make sure you aren't held accountable and make EXTRA sure that you'll be paid for the extra time you have to waste in catching up. 4) (If they are not local) Spell out how they send you payments. Priority Mail with Delivery Confirmation is only a few bucks and will avoid any headaches with "We sent the check, we swear" 5) If this is your primary source of income, then Net 30 is NOT good enough. They need to pay Net 15 or better and you should be invoicing every two weeks. Big companies have a real problem with this, but standard monthly invoices and Net 30 will cause you to starve for several months before ever getting a dime. The BEST way to arrange payments is to spell out the exact date that they will send a payment (and how much). It should be so precise that you don't even need to invoice them because all the info is right there. 6) Specify how long you will wait for a late payment before work stops all together. In 6 years of contract work, I've NEVER had a contract that successfully avoided all of the situations above. Every one has run into one of these caveats, which are 'conveniently' left out of most boilerplate contracts. If these issues aren't addressed, you will be waiting for money for a LONG time.