Contracts signed on a phone, then tracked on one page

Yes on the call. Then the Word file, the PDF, "can you print this and scan it back," and a deposit invoice that lives somewhere else entirely. A week later everyone is still looking for the signed copy.

We got tired of running our own contracts that way, so they now live in the same back office as our invoices.

How it works now

We fill in the Order Form on the client's record: what we're building, what each piece includes, the build fee, the deposit, the monthly fee, the dates, and what the order leaves out. The wording is our paper template word for word, so what a client agrees to is exactly what it was on paper.

When it's ready, Ryan signs for Forecheck by typing his name, and the client gets one link by email.

That link opens the Order Form and the full Services Agreement on the same page. It reads fine on a phone, in light or dark. To sign, the client ticks two boxes (one agreeing to sign electronically, one agreeing to the terms) and types their name as the Order Form shows it. That's the whole ceremony.

The moment they sign, both sides get the signed PDF by email: the Order Form, both signatures, a signature record and the full Agreement in one file. The deposit invoice is already made, and its pay button is right there in their copy.

The rules it keeps

A contract is only worth something if nobody can argue later about what was signed. So:

• The client can only sign what they were sent. If we change anything after sending, even a date, the old link stops working and says it was replaced. They get a new one.
• We keep the exact copy both sides signed. If that stored copy ever stopped matching what was signed, we'd refuse to show it rather than hand over something different.
• Once it's signed, the price and the terms lock. New work goes on a Change Order.
• One page, one price. If a price printed next to a service doesn't add up to the fee in the fees table, it won't send.
• The name typed has to match the signer on the Order Form. A wrong name gets a plain message, not a signature.
• Nothing emails the client on its own. Sending, each build update and going live are buttons we press, each with a confirm. The signed copy is the one exception, and the page tells them it's coming.

After the signature

The same link becomes the client's build page for the life of the project. It shows the signed Order Form, what's paid and what's due with a pay button on each, and every update we post as the build goes: kickoff, walk-through, review. We post an update to the page and decide separately whether it's worth landing in their inbox.

Going live is one button, and it won't press until the deposit is paid, since work starts once it is. Then the contract goes active, the balance invoice goes out due that day, and monthly billing starts on the date the Order Form names. If a client's Order Form says billing starts on the first of the month, it starts on the first, not the day we flipped the switch.

The whole trail stays: every link sent, every signature, every update. Nothing gets deleted to tidy up.