How to Handle Delayed, Suspended, or Abandoned Web Design Projects

It’s a common problem in our industry. The client signs a contract (you had them sign a contract, right? Right!?), but then somewhere along the way they create delays, fail to deliver content or feedback, or otherwise become unresponsive.

This was a problem I had experienced for years. And while it still happens in my web design agency, it no longer affects us negatively.

That’s going to be the key takeaway from this article. While it’s impossible to stop project delays and abandonment from happening, it’s possible to insulate yourself from the consequences.

Why project delays are problematic

Before we talk about mitigation steps, let’s make sure we’re all on the same page as to why project delays are so problematic:

1. It took time and money to land the project.
   Landing a project comes with a cost to the agency or freelancer. Many dollars and hours are invested in marketing, sales calls, proposals, SOWs, etc. When a project is delayed or abandoned, affecting payment, it creates a loss for the agency.
2. Delayed projects create lost opportunity costs.
   When a project is accepted, the agency says “Yes” to the client and often says “No” to other opportunities. Sometimes those other opportunities can’t be realized when an accepted project goes dark. These lost opportunity costs are high.
3. There’s only so much space on the schedule.
   Agencies can only work on so many projects in parallel. When an agency says “Yes” to a client’s project and puts them on the schedule, they often say “Not yet” to someone else. This affects other clients and also can affect sales. With both parties agreeing to the plan, both parties must follow through.
4. Flow = focus and efficiency.
   Not being able to work on a project for whatever reason comes with a two-fold productivity cost. First, it forces a context switch to other activities. Second, it demands a “re-engagement” with the project when work is permitted to resume. These are actual costs that agencies shouldn’t have to absorb.
5. The internet moves fast.
   If a project is delayed for a year or more, that’s more than 1/3 of the average lifespan of a website. Processes change. Techniques evolve. Discovery insights (like keyword research) go stale. The agency has to deal with “the old way of doing things” when they revisit a significantly delayed project and may have to perform specific discovery tasks repeatedly. This all comes with a cost.

There are more downsides, but these are the biggest. The main point is that if two sides agree to a prioritized timeline, both sides should adhere to that timeline.

If the client is responsible for delaying the project, the agency shouldn’t be saddled with the associated costs. At the bare minimum, the client should still be responsible for making the agreed payments.

Let’s talk about how to make that happen.

Protecting yourself from project delays

If you implement the following suggestions, you’ll be more or less immune to project delays, postponements, and abandonment.

Step #1: Stop agreeing to milestone payments

Milestone payments are terrible for both agencies and clients. One of the reasons I cover in my detailed article about milestone payments is that they give the client all the leverage over your money.

If you accept milestone payments, it’s tough to take any other actions I recommend. You’re effectively saying, “I don’t deserve to get paid unless X happens,” and your client has complete control over X.

You must stop agreeing to milestone payments.

Step #2: Explicitly cover this scenario in your Master Service Agreement (MSA)

A Master Service Agreement is a type of contract that outlines the basic guidelines of a working relationship for all clients of an agency.

MSAs are convenient because they define a base contract, where an additional agreement can stipulate other specifics related to any given project (if needed).

Here’s the section from our MSA related to delayed, suspended, or abandoned projects:

Disclaimer: This is not legal advice. You’ll need a lawyer to give the appropriate verbiage for your agency’s needs.

This is an essential clause because it creates clear definitions and timelines for each of these terms and guidelines for handling each situation.

The result, of course, is that the agency gets paid regardless of delays (assuming the delays are the client’s fault).

We’ve only had to enforce this clause in the MSA once in many years of having it, and the client obliged without incident. This is because…

Step #3: Warn your client in writing

Clients often forget what they sign and agree to. So, when you see the first signs of delays, lack of communication, or poor responsiveness, use this opportunity to quickly reiterate the importance of adhering to the project terms.

See how this works? The existence of these clauses in the contract may seem aggressive to some, but it’s not about taking people to court and forcing their hand legally. You’ll rarely have to do that.

The real purpose of clauses like this is to give you leverage while giving your client some extra “motivation” to do the right thing.

Most agencies have to drop to their knees and beg and plead with their clients. That’s not a position you want to be in, especially since it’s easy for clients to ignore you when you don’t have leverage.

Having these clauses in the contract gives you the leverage you need to be taken seriously.

There’s no begging or pleading now. There’s only matter-of-factly stating your request, putting the ball in the client’s court, and then moving on with your life regardless of what they decide to do.

If they ignore you, you’re still legally obligated to get paid. And that brings me to the following key detail:

Step #4: Get billing authorization up front

Sending invoices and hoping to receive payment works well until it doesn’t.

There are two ways to fix this:

1. Get paid in full before you do the work.
2. Get a deposit as well as payment authorization before you do the work.

If you’re familiar with my pricing options, you know many of my clients pay in total upfront. They get a discount for doing this because it severely lessens the number of financial hassles that happen throughout a project’s lifecycle.

If a client doesn’t want to pay upfront, that’s fine. But I still need a deposit and a way to get the rest of the bag when the work is done.

This is easy to do with a billing authorization and is a standard practice in many industries.

All you have to do is have your client sign a billing authorization form. Then you put their billing information on file and auto-bill them what they owe when they owe it.

In a typical delay scenario, this is what you probably do:

• Deposit
• <Project becomes delayed/suspended/abandoned>
• Invoice #2 (Client ignores)
• Invoice #3 (Client ignores)

And this is what I do:

• Deposit
• <Project becomes delayed/suspended/abandoned>
• Cha-ching #2 (Process Payment)
• Cha-ching #3 (Process Payment)

Now instead of you having invoices sitting on your books a year from now, you have money in your account. Your client can certainly try to come after you for that or issue a chargeback, but they’re way outgunned…

Step #5: Document & save all communication

Should legal recourse ever happen, you’re going to need to arm yourself with as much documentation firepower as possible.

• Can you provide a signed contract / Master Service Agreement?
• Can you show where the client failed to meet a deadline?
• Can you show where the client responded-to or ignored requests?
• Can you demonstrate that you were proactive in your communication?
• Can you give examples of where you tried to be flexible?
• Do you have notes from all meetings?
• Is everything dated and in writing?

In all my years running my agency, I’ve never had to take legal action against a client. That doesn’t mean I never took any Ls, though.

I had many projects go off the rails that I couldn’t take any recourse on back when I wasn’t using appropriate contracts. I had to let the client walk because I didn’t have any leverage.

Once you have leverage, clients are far more likely to adhere to the terms without incident. And that’s all we want. Nobody wants to go to court or engage in legal battles. We just want to stop absorbing costs for delays and abandonments that aren’t our fault.

What’s your experience with project delays?

Have you had issues with delays or project abandonment in the past? Have you experienced actual costs and problems associated with these projects? Could you let me know if you had a valid contract with a clause for these scenarios?

I’d love to hear about situations you’ve dealt with! Could you drop a comment below and share it? There’s something in every story that we can all learn from.