Why do my payment terms differ from one engagement to the next?

What does the rate card say?

My rates and standard terms document sets the default for everything I do. Standard payment terms are net 30 from the invoice date. Fixed-fee engagements are invoiced in milestones named in the engagement letter. Work outside the written scope is quoted before it starts. Rates are reviewed each January and current clients are told sixty days before a change.

That document is the standard. It is not the last word on any particular engagement.

What does the Halvard letter say?

Section 4 of the engagement letter sets the payment terms for that engagement: Net 14 from the invoice date, with a 40% deposit on signature. It says in the same breath that these terms replace the standard net 30 on my rate card for this engagement only, and that late payment pauses work after a written reminder.

So for Halvard, net 30 is simply the wrong answer. Not a slightly different answer. The wrong one.

Why have different terms at all?

Because a fixed-fee review carries risk on my side, and a deposit plus shorter terms is how that risk is shared. The client gets a fixed price; I get paid in a rhythm that matches the work. A client who wanted my standard terms could have them, priced accordingly. Halvard chose the letter's terms and signed them.

How do the two get mixed up?

Easily, and usually by whoever is looking at the wrong document. Finance departments default to their own terms. I default, when tired, to my own rate card. The kickoff notes record that the director confirmed the deposit was raised with finance on signature day, in line with section 4, which is exactly how it should go. The mid-point invoice, when it is raised, goes to the depot cost centre with section 4 terms, not rate-card terms. It is not raised yet; the milestone has not been met.

What happens when a client pays late?

The letter says: a written reminder, and if that does not resolve it, work pauses. Not a phone call, not a pause without warning. The written reminder is a step the letter requires and I rehearse that conversation too, because finance saying "we pay everyone on net 30" is the most likely thing to hear and the answer is in the signed letter, not in my rate card.

How do I keep the right answer in front of me?

I keep my own files on Vera. My engagement letters, the kickoff notes, the rate card and my ledger all live there, and when I ask what the payment terms are for Halvard, the answer comes back citing section 4 of the letter, not the rate card. That is the whole reason I use it. A generic answer would quote net 30, because that is what my standard document says and it is the more common number. The useful answer is the one that reads the signed letter and says which document governs.

It also means that when I am on a call with Halvard finance and someone says net 30, I can open the section they signed in one click rather than arguing from memory.

What is the rule, in one line?

The rate card sets the standard. A signed engagement letter may change any of it for that engagement, and where it does, the letter governs. Read section 4 before raising an invoice. Read section 2 before agreeing to a new request.

Q&A

The questions people ask most about my payment terms are answered below.

Last updated 1 October 2026.