Signed before you start work.
The reason contracts go unsigned is friction, not intent. Asking a client to create an account on a signing platform so they can click once is friction. Sending one PDF and getting one PDF back is not.
For freelancers and small studios who invoice for work and cannot chase paperwork.
Why it usually goes wrong.
The client does not need an account, a login or a link that expires. They need a file they can sign with a finger or a mouse and send back. Everything else is a reason to delay.
Fill what the SOW already declares, number the pages so a clause can be cited later, then sign. Keep the hash if the client is the type to ask what exactly was agreed.
In this order
Every step runs in the tab
Fill the fields in the SOW
If the template declares fields, type into them rather than drawing boxes over the page. Flatten when done so the terms cannot be quietly edited.
Open Fill a PDF formSign and send it yourself
Download the signed copy and attach it to the email you were going to write anyway. Add the certificate page if the client wants proof of what was signed.
Open the signer
- There is no sending, no reminder and no counter-signature request. Two parties means two passes of this page.
- The signature is not a qualified electronic signature and carries no trusted timestamp. For a large engagement where that matters, the client’s legal team will say so.
- Nothing is stored. There is no archive to return to, so keep the signed download somewhere you will find it.
- A flat scan of a contract has no fields to fill. Only what the file declares can be typed into.
Doing this weekly?
If you are building a product that needs this inside it, the same modules are licensed as source.