Should I start work before the contract is signed?

No. Wait until both sides have signed the same version. Starting on a verbal go-ahead, a “paperwork to follow” email or a calendar invite leaves the fee, the scope and who owns the files as a later argument. A short freelancer agreement or statement of work signed on one link is the day-one paper.

The risk is not theoretical. If the client later says the job was smaller, the rate was different, or the files are already theirs, you are proving a deal from a chat thread. In many cases a court can still find a contract from emails and the work you did. What it cannot invent is a deposit, a named due date, or an IP assignmentIP assignmentAn IP assignment is a transfer of ownership in the work, so the client owns it instead of the person who made it.More in the glossary that only bites on payment.

Sign, then start. If they need you this week, that is a reason to sign today, not a reason to skip the paper. An electronic signature is enough for most ordinary contracts. See Is an electronic signature legally binding?.

Treat “paperwork to follow” as “there is no contract yet.” A promise to send terms later is not the terms. Do not book the diary, start a repo, or send working files on that sentence.

A useful reply is short:

• you are ready to start on the date they want
• you need the fee, scope and ownership signed first
• here is one link to the draft

If they are waiting on their legal team, keep the draft on that same link. They can redlineredlineA redline is a proposed edit on a draft contract — words added, struck out or rewritten — not a signed change.More in the glossary it there. You do not need a second Word file. What to do when a client redlines is the page for the edits; this page is for the gap before anyone has signed.

If they will not open the link, that is a different problem: see What do I do if a client won't sign the contract?. Starting the work will not make them more likely to sign. It usually makes it harder to walk away.

In many cases, yes, a contract can be formed by emails, a brief and doing the work. Check local law for your deal. What an email thread usually does not do is record the clauses you will actually need when something goes wrong: a due date, a deposit, a revision limitrevision limitA revision limit says how many rounds of changes are included in the fee before extra work is quoted.More in the glossary, who owns the work, and a right to pause if they stop paying.

A signed paper is not a different kind of magic. It is the same deal, written so both sides can point to it. How to write a contract is the longer list of what to put down.

England and Wales. An electronic signature is admissible in evidence on questions of authenticity. The Law Commission’s 2019 report says an electronic signature is capable in law of executing a document where the signer intends to authenticate it and any formalities are met. A deeddeedA deed is a formal written document that meets special signing rules, commonly used where one side gives nothing in return.More in the glossary is a different, more formal document and still needs a witness who is physically present. Ordinary freelance terms are almost never a deed. See /law/england-and-wales.

United States. Under the federal ESIGN Act, a signature or contract relating to a transaction in interstate or foreign commerce may not be denied legal effect solely because it is in electronic form. State rules sit next to that. We do not print a state-by-state list here.

None of that means a trailing “sounds good” in Slack is as useful as a signed executed versionexecuted versionThe executed version is the signed, frozen text that is the contract. Drafts, redlines and comments are not. In England and Wales an ordinary agreement is executed when the parties sign it with the intention to authenticate that wording, including by e-signature. A deed has extra formalities.More in the glossary. Sign the version you both mean.

Stop adding new work until the paper is signed. Send the draft on one link, name what you have already done, and say that further work waits on signature. If they still will not sign, decide whether to finish a defined slice, invoice for work done, or walk away.

Collect the brief, the emails that named the fee, the files you have already sent, and every “please start” message. That trail is what you have if you later need to chase an invoice. What do I do when a client won't pay is the unpaid-invoice page; it is harder to use when nobody agreed a due date.

Do not assign copyright, send source files, or grant a wide licencelicenceA licence is permission to use work in an agreed way, without taking ownership away from the person who made it.More in the glossary while the agreement is still unsigned. Paying an invoice does not, by itself, move ownership. Keep pre-existing materialspre-existing materialsPre-existing materials are tools, libraries or work the supplier already owned, which are licensed for the job rather than handed over.More in the glossary on your side either way.

If they have already paid a deposit into your account, that money is a slice of the fee, not a substitute for terms. Write the deposit into the contract and say what happens if they cancel — see Client cancelled: can you keep the deposit?.

Five lines cover most freelance jobs. Put them in a freelancer agreement or a statement of work under a services agreement, then sign.

• Who, and what. Legal names, and a short description of the work and what “done” looks like.
• Money. Fee, deposit if you take one, due date such as net 14 or net 30Net 30Net 30 means the client has 30 days from the invoice date to pay.More in the glossary, and a right to pause if an invoice is overdue. See payment terms and Net 30, net 14, on receipt.
• Ownership. IP assignment or a licence that passes only on full payment.
• Change. Extra work is a signed change, not a chat. See Client keeps adding extra work.
• How it ends. Notice, what is paid for work done, and a kill feekill feeA kill fee is a payment due to a creator or supplier when a client cancels a project before it is finished.More in the glossary if they cancel. See How to end a freelance contract.

Example

Work starts on the Start Date, after both parties have signed this agreement and the Client has paid the deposit in SchedulescheduleA schedule is an annex to the contract that holds the detail: fees, dates, deliverables, service levels. It is part of the agreement if the main body says so. An order-of-precedence line should say what happens if the schedule and the clauses collide. Swap a schedule only by the variation method the contract names.More in the glossary 1. Until then the Freelancer has no obligation to start, and the Client has no licence to use any files already shared.

In Plain English: signature and the deposit come first. Until then you do not owe them a start, and they do not have permission to use anything you already sent.

What goes in a freelance or contractor agreement walks through the rest of the paper. Contracts for freelancers is the wider set.

On Contracts.io both sides draft, negotiate and e-sign one shared contract, so day one is the version you both signed. Describe the job in a sentence. Lex drafts a freelancer agreement or statement of work. You share one link. The client can Accept, Counter or Decline on that same version, then both of you e-sign it. The other side never pays and does not need an account.

That is faster than “paperwork to follow.” It is also the difference between a due date you can point to and a chat history you hope a later reader will reconstruct.

You can start from the AI contract generator or the contract generator. Free £0, then paid plans from £15 a month — see /pricing.

Try it on contracts.io: describe the job in one sentence, share one link, and e-sign before day one.