What is an Interior Design Contract?
An Interior Design Contract is your MOST important legal document. If you only have one contract in your interior design business, this is it!
An Interior Design Contract sets out the legal agreement between an interior designer and their clients.
It covers all of the important terms of your agreement, including services. fees, expenses, payment terms and limitation of liability. It also covers Intellectual Property rights.
Your Interior Design Contract should be tailored to each specific client. A well written agreement will not only provide you with legal protection, it will also help manage your client’s expectations.
Do I need a contract for my interior design clients?
Yes, definitely! A contract protects both you and your clients.
You should always have a contract signed before you start a new interior design job for a client.
Putting things in writing protects both parties and gives certainty.
Contracts are about more than wrapping your clients up in red tape and telling them what they can’t do. Think of your contract as relationship insurance: it does all the hard, boring work of keeping the relationship on rails, so you can focus on the fun part – the actual designing.
Are there any other names for an Interior Design Contract?
Yes, you might have also heard this contract referred to as Interior Design Terms & Conditions, Terms of Trade, Interior Design Service Agreement or Client Agreement.
All of them are basically the same thing, just different names for the contract you use with your interior design clients.
What does this Interior Design Contract template include?
Our Interior Design Contract template covers everything you need:
★ Services – description of your services
★ Fees – what you charge for your work
★ Expenses – any extra charges for expenses (disbursements)
★ Payment Terms – very important, how you will get paid! Includes deposit and overdue amounts
★ Our Responsibilities – what you are responsible for
★ Client Responsibilities – what the client is responsible for
★ Intellectual Property – this covers intellectual property rights for the works you create
★ Disclaimer – important legal clause
★ Client’s Warranty and Indemnity -important legal clause
★ Changes to Scope – how you will deal with change requests and out of scope work
★ Confidentiality – both parties agree to keep confidential information private
★ Limitation of Liability – to protect you against claims for losses and damages
★ Termination – this explains how either party can terminate the agreement
★ Dispute Resolution – process to deal with any problems that may arise
★ General – standard contract clauses such as Assignment, Severance, Entire Agreement, Waiver and Governing Law
How do I fit all of the details of the Scope into the contract?
The best way to do this is to have TWO documents which you provide to clients:
1. Proposal – a detailed overview of the design services you will provide and the scope of your engagement
2. Terms and Conditions – all of the legal considerations and your official agreement
This gives you more flexibility and it means that you can customise each proposal without having to condense the detailed information into a standard contract.
Do I get to choose my own deposit amount and payment terms?
Yes, you do!
You can specify a deposit amount as a percentage of the total estimated fees. You can also choose when you will invoice for the balance of payments.
Our template allows you to set your own payment terms to help speed up payments from clients (e.g. 7 days).
What happens if the client wants to change the scope?
We have included a clause to cover any changes to the scope and how you can address this. Any requested changes which are out of scope will normally incur additional fees for the client.
You also have the option to refuse any changes to the original scope unless the client agrees to pay you additional fees for the work.
Why should I invest in a quality Interior Design Contract template?
You’ve spent countless hours dedicated to learning how to attract the right clients.
Your heavy financial investments in your own personal growth are slowly but surely paying off.
You’re not going to let all that go to waste with a crappy contract, are you?
The booking process is the most fragile part of the selling process. Don’t let your future clients slip away with a shady contract, pieced together like Frankenstein.
With this contract template, your clients will know you take your business seriously. You’ll stand out from your competition, but best of all, your clients will trust you right from the start.
Is this template legally binding?
Absolutely!
All of our templates have been drafted by qualified Australian lawyers who hold an Australian legal practicing certificate.
We are affiliated with a commercial law firm based in Sydney.
I have an Apple Mac – can I still use this template?
Yes, but we recommend you have Microsoft Word installed on your Mac.
Our documents contain smart fields which use a Microsoft Word feature called content controls. They help to save time in updating the template, but may not display correctly in Pages or Google Docs.
If you need a version of your template without the content controls, this is available for immediate download once you complete your purchase (you can download both versions).
Can’t I copy terms from someone else or download a free template off the internet?
We don’t recommend this approach for a few reasons:
1. You may be committing copyright infringement, which is against the law.
2. You might accidentally copy terms and conditions from another country – if you end up in court for some reason it might be on the other side of the world.
3. Our template has been drafted by an Australian lawyer to make sure it’s legally binding here in Australia.
