Whether you’re starting your own interior design business or already have one up and running, it is important that you have legal terms and conditions in place with your clients. Clear legal terms and conditions will set out the key terms and expectations that are required for working together with your clients and will help you to minimise risk and disputes so you can continue to focus on what you do best.
What are the key features of well drafted interior designer client terms?
The key features that you would typically expect to see in client terms for an interior designer include:
- Payment: the right to be paid within a certain timeframe; the right to suspend services if you are not paid; and a right to charge interest on overdue amounts.
- Scope: the right to revise your fee estimates if the scope of works changes to prevent scope creep;
- Intellectual Property: that the intellectual property rights in any designs developed by your business is owned by your business and is licenced to the client only for the purpose of their project and only once they have paid you. This stops your client from using your ideas on other projects.
- Ordering Goods: a process for ordering goods on behalf of clients from suppliers and manufacturers and limiting your liability in this process for faulty or damaged goods;
- Photos: the right to use photos of the works in your clients premises for marketing and promotional purposes;
- Attribution: a right to attribution / be named if photos of the works are published in any magazines or online;
- Disputes: a clear process in the event of any complaints or issues with your services
Cherrypicka offers an Interior Designer Client Terms template that you can tailor to suit your business needs. The terms have been designed so that they can easily be included in your existing Scope of Work or Quote template.
Or check out our Interior Designer Essentials pack which contains a few little gems to keep your whole interior design business on track.