Deecey, Thanks. A lot of what I've learned is from bitter experience... and if it saves somebody else time and grief so much the better. A couple of my best jobs were on a handshake basis... but I've also had to resort to lawyers too many times. Getting a firm understanding is even more vital if the parties are friends. You want the friendship to last beyond the job. Oh, another note about payment and good friends/good clients. I offer a 30% discount if payment is made immediately. This is a "good client discount". Often a check has been cut in my presence, sometimes it is delivered within 3-4 days (cross-country). I have had clents try to pay me quarterly... sorry but I can't afford to wait 90 days... or longer. I've had clients lose invoices. I've had 3 clients go belly-up bankrupt. Taking a discount in order to get an assured payment is a good thing in risky times. The client knows the real value of the job, and appreciates a break... and I get paid. This is actually how I got this WIN98 box. It is a long-term loan from a company that I had many, many projects with. The owner paid me immediately time after time and saved thousands over the years. He got tired of formatting documents in DOS 8.3 style and called to ask what kind of machine I was using. A half hour later he called back to tell me a spiffy new beastie was being delivered. (This was some years back-It's been a hard-working box.) It had Word and Excel pre-installed on it, so things were less trouble on his end. But it also told me that he was a very satisfied client... and good friend. Some large companies have rules that they must take a disount if offered, so folks can try putting a line like "10% discount for payment within 10 days" in a contract and see if it speeds up the cash flow. Carolly