[pbnjay]

For small contracts, I usually ask for half up-front and half at delivery. Medium-size might be in thirds with the second payment invoiced when they get the prototype. For large contracts I tend to do monthly payments with a little bit of front-loading (ex: for a 100k project over 6 mos, 20k x 2 months and then 15k x 4 months).

Your hourly rate is entirely dependent on the project, skillset, and experience. A small PHP-only developer cannot command the same rate that a full-stack backend, frontend, and iOS developer might. Delivery timelines also play in - if they want it next week there's a premium.

I'd avoid that agreement, it's overly broad. I try to make mine assign on full payment / completion of project and cover only the work performed for the contract. If I can swing it, I try a non-exclusive license instead of full assignment as well, which allows me to reuse code.