Nobody enjoys reading contracts, which is exactly why the IP ownership clause gets skimmed past more than anything else, and it’s the one that causes the most trouble later.
A startup founder we know, not a client at the time, had signed with a freelancer whose one-page agreement never mentioned who owned the code once the project was paid off. Six months in, wanting to switch developers, they discovered the ambiguity meant weeks of awkward back-and-forth just to get their own source files handed over cleanly. It’s an entirely avoidable mess if it’s written down properly on day one.
What a proper agreement should actually spell out:
If a developer resists putting scope and ownership in writing before starting, that hesitation is worth paying attention to, regardless of how nice their previous work looks. Reach out and we’ll send you our standard agreement to look over .
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