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You seem not to consider that in these cases the customer has reasons not to pay. Usually that’s because they don’t think the contractor delivered what they promised, or took too long, or got part-way through the project then jacked up the price. Given a “he said, she said” conflict with no compelling documentation to support either side, the arbitrator may choose to split the difference in some way. These lawsuits frequently turn into ego-driven battles to win at all costs, over relatively small amounts. The arbitrator will want to defuse that rather than pore over the details with a microscope. The best protection for both sides is to document everything, in writing (email works), so there’s a trail of every decision, every update, and the beginnings of the conflict. A reasonable arbitrator can infer what happened if they have evidence. Charging for defined deliverables rather than fixed fee for a big project, or hourly, mitigates the risk for both sides. That also requires the freelancer does real analysis and breaks the task into specific tasks and deliverables. I rarely see that when I get called to mop up. You might be surprised at how many freelancers write a boilerplate contract with vague requirements and deliverables, cash the down payment, then stop communicating with their customer. I’ve made a good living cleaning up after those messes. The customer could have done things differently, of course, but they too often trust the contractor as an expert and don’t understand technical decisions or costs. As a freelancer you run into unreasonable, crazy, cheap, and toxic customers. Usually lots of red flags. Part of professional freelancing is learning how to identify bad customers and walking away, not trying to draft the perfect contract. |