Getting paid
Who decides when payment is due? Look for approval without a deadline, broad rights to withhold money and charges the other party can change during the contract.
Practical contract guide
Contract risk assessment: what could this agreement cost you?
Payment depends on the client being satisfied. Extra revisions are free. There’s no deadline for approval. Each term may look ordinary on its own; together, they could leave you working without getting paid. A contract risk assessment connects the wording to what could happen in practice.
Start with your side of the deal
A buyer may want payment tied to acceptance. A supplier needs acceptance to have a clear meaning and a deadline. Before rating a clause, write down whose interests you’re reviewing and what the agreement is meant to achieve.
Then ask three questions: What could happen under this wording? How much would it matter to us? What would we ask to change? A missing schedule or an unclear definition can be just as important as an unfavorable clause.
Where problems often start
Finishing the work
What counts as delivery? An undefined brief, unlimited revisions or a missing acceptance process can turn a fixed fee into an open-ended commitment.
Paying for a loss
Read liability limits alongside indemnities and exceptions. A cap in one paragraph may leave particular claims outside it.
Owning and using the work
Check whether the rights you give away include existing tools, side projects or business information. Find out what you can keep using after the agreement ends.
Leaving or renewing
Find the notice deadline, exit charges and refund terms. Consider what happens to your data, unfinished work and prepaid fees when the service stops.
Missing terms or documents
Follow references to schedules, policies and other agreements. Note the governing law and dispute terms. You cannot assess wording you haven’t been given.
Fictional example
A $6,000 project that keeps growing
“The final installment is payable after the Customer approves all work. The Supplier shall make all requested changes without additional charge.”
You priced the job for two rounds of revisions and need the final payment to cover a subcontractor’s invoice. This clause gives the customer no deadline for approval and puts no limit on extra changes.
Your first question is whether the statement of work fixes either problem. If it doesn’t, raise the payment and revision terms before committing to the job.
- What could go wrong?
- The customer keeps requesting changes while the final payment remains unpaid. Your costs continue even though the project fee is fixed.
- What could you ask for?
- A defined brief, two included revision rounds, a deadline for reviewing completed work and a separate price for additional work. Agree how undisputed amounts will be paid.
- What still needs a decision?
- Even with clearer terms, you still need a deposit and payment schedule that cover your costs. Better wording cannot establish whether the customer will pay on time.
Decide what to raise first
Start with obligations you cannot perform or losses you could not absorb. Next, deal with terms that need a clearer deadline, limit or exception. Routine obligations still need someone responsible for carrying them out.
Keep unknowns separate. If a missing attachment could change the answer, request it. An unanswered question is not a low-risk finding. These priorities are a way to organize your review, not a calculation of how likely a contract is to go wrong.
Keep a record of the decision
For each issue, save the clause, your concern, the change requested and the agreed outcome. Include the document version and the person responsible for following up. “Discussed with the customer” is less useful than the final acceptance deadline and payment wording.
AnyContract.ai can help you identify issues and prepare proposed changes. You can refine an individual finding and download the report, memo or redline. See the sample review to inspect how a finding connects to the contract text.
Common questions
How is this different from a checklist?
A checklist tells you where to look. A risk assessment explains what the particular wording could mean for you and what to do about it.
When should I check the risks again?
When the draft changes, a missing document arrives or the deal changes. An earlier report does not automatically cover a new version of the contract.
Find the terms worth questioning
Upload your agreement to see potential risks, the passages behind them and suggested changes you can consider.
One review costs $29, or you can use an existing credit. The sample report is free to view.
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AI can miss issues or suggest unsuitable wording. Check important findings against your full agreement and the applicable law before signing.