What should be in a contract to be a consultant?

A consulting contract should contain nine things: the scope of the engagement, concrete deliverables, fees and payment schedule, expense treatment, intellectual property ownership, confidentiality, an independent contractor clause, a liability cap, and termination terms.

Scope discipline is the consultant's survival skill. Advisory services regarding marketing is an invitation to unlimited work; up to 10 hours monthly of marketing strategy consultation, delivered as a written monthly plan is a boundary. Pair it with an overflow rate for out-of-scope requests.

The liability cap deserves one sentence everywhere: liability limited to fees paid under this agreement. Consultants advise; clients decide, and the cap keeps a client's bad quarter from becoming your lawsuit. Everything else is standard contract hygiene: real dates, named deliverables, and a 30-day exit.

This consultant contract template covers all nine in fillable form.