Contractor review
Paste your 1099, contractor, or consulting agreement. The AI flags unfair payment and IP terms, broad restrictions, and clauses that make the role look more like employment than independent work.
Six checks
What contractors should check
Set hours, a required location, and daily supervision are hallmarks of employment, not contracting. The agreement should control the result, not the method.
A ban on other clients removes the independence that defines a contractor — and your ability to replace this income.
Net 60 is long, and “payment for work deemed satisfactory in Company's sole discretion” lets the client decide whether to pay at all.
Assigning everything “conceived during the term, whether or not related” can capture side projects you build on your own time.
A nationwide ban on your trade for 18 months can be harder to justify for a contractor than an employee, and many places restrict them.
Immediate termination for the client but 90 days' notice for you, with no pay for uninvoiced work, is one-sided.
Plain-English answers
Read it for four things: what you must deliver, when and how you get paid, what you give up (IP, other clients, future work), and how either side can end it.
Then look at how the work will actually happen. A contract that calls you independent but dictates your hours, tools, and methods sends mixed signals. Paste the agreement above for a clause-by-clause review, or use the legalese translator on any single clause you don't follow.
Control is the common thread: who decides when, where, and how the work is done, who supplies the tools, and whether you can work for others.
The IRS groups the evidence into behavioral control, financial control, and the type of relationship. The U.S. Department of Labor looks at the economic reality of the relationship, and some states, including California, apply a stricter ABC test. The contract wording alone does not decide the question, but terms like fixed hours, required on-site work, exclusivity, and an indefinite term all point toward employment.
A fixed net term from invoice (Net 15 or Net 30), a deposit or milestone payments for larger projects, a late-payment clause, and payment for all work performed if the client ends the contract early.
Avoid wording that lets the client withhold payment at its sole discretion. Use the late fee calculator to draft a late-payment clause, and the kill fee calculator for cancellation terms.
Clause examples
Illustrative examples to help you frame a counter-proposal. They are not ready-made contract language.
Risky
“Consultant shall work from Company's office 9:00 to 5:00 and report daily to Company's manager, who will direct the manner in which the work is performed.”
Safer
“Consultant will determine the method, schedule, and location of the work, and is responsible only for delivering the Services described in Schedule A by the agreed dates.”
Controlling the result rather than the method keeps the relationship clearly independent — protecting both sides from misclassification.
Risky
“All inventions conceived by Consultant during the term, whether or not related to the Services or created on Consultant's own time, belong to Company.”
Safer
“Company owns the deliverables created specifically for it under this Agreement once paid for. Consultant keeps its pre-existing materials and anything developed independently of the Services.”
Limiting the assignment to paid deliverables protects your tools, your side projects, and your next client's work.
Risky
“Company may terminate immediately. Consultant may terminate on ninety (90) days' notice. Company has no obligation to pay for work not yet invoiced.”
Safer
“Either party may terminate on fourteen (14) days' written notice. Company will pay for all Services performed through the termination date.”
Mutual notice and payment for work performed are the baseline for a fair engagement.
FAQ
FreeContractReviewer.com provides AI-generated information to help you understand possible contract issues. It is not legal advice and does not replace a qualified lawyer.
