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I have been working with relatively large companies as a contractor. In that setup, I didn't really concern about "contract" since they provided with all necessary contract forms and I just needed to sign and return them.

Recently, I started working with small businesses and I found many of small businesses do not have a good process to handle contractors. So I think I may need contract forms before working with them to prevent from getting unnecessary lawsuits or something similar. I tried to find any online resource to build such forms but couldn't do that. May I have to talk to a lawyer for this? Any tip or point to such materials would be appreciated.

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Get yourself a good small business lawyer and let him/her develop standard consulting contracts on YOUR behalf. Signing other companies' forms serves their interest, not yours. Grabbing forms online is better than nothing, but still leaves many variables unaccounted for.

I watched a compelling presentation on this subject a few months ago from a well known designer who talked about the value of having solid contracts and a good lawyer on your side (warning - video may not be safe for work due to salty language): F*ck You, Pay Me

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I was afraid that someone would say this but I guess this should be the choice I have to make. And that's the reason I accepted this answer. But appreciate all other answers too. Thank you all. – Thomas Aug 31 '11 at 22:41
I understand your reluctance. I felt the same way and ran my business for many years without a lawyer. I've finally realized that it cost me far more than it saved me. There were two projects in particular that cost me tens of thousands of dollars. Best of luck to you. – JonDiPietro Aug 31 '11 at 22:54
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They mentioned DocStoc.com as well. Take a look if it suits your needs. I heard some other sites before but couldn't find them. I'll post when I find..

Where can I get free/cheap legal documents?

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You might find what you're looking for at ContractEdge.com. The Consulting Services Agreement might be a good fit.

If you're getting into more complex arrangements then you may have to hire a lawyer. Just know it can get expensive. I paid over $1,500 for a few agreements last year. Of course, I did that because I needed an online distribution agreement which covered profit sharing, copyright infringement, and a lot of other concerns I had. A consulting services agreement is normally a little more straightforward.

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