Kill fee · Web development
Kill fee in web development: what is normal
Web projects should pay for completed milestones on cancellation; a milestone structure is the kill fee.
Typical range
All completed and in-progress milestones are due on cancellation. Before real work, the deposit is retained; mid-milestone, that milestone is billed pro-rata or in full.
Off-market
A clause letting the client cancel any time and pay only for 'accepted' work, so a nearly finished milestone that has not been formally signed off is worth nothing.
One-line fix
"On cancellation, all completed milestones and the current milestone in progress are due in full. The deposit is non-refundable once work begins."
What we see
Web development is naturally milestoned (discovery, design, build, launch), and that structure is itself the kill-fee mechanism: if each milestone is invoiced as it completes, a cancellation simply stops future milestones while paying for the work already done.
The trap is an 'acceptance' clause that only pays for formally signed-off work. Code and design that are 90% done but not yet approved represent real hours; a cancellation clause tied strictly to acceptance lets a client walk away from nearly finished work owing nothing for it.
The healthy contract makes completed milestones due on cancellation and bills the in-progress one pro-rata or in full, with a non-refundable deposit covering the ramp-up. This is standard for agencies and freelancers alike, and it keeps the risk of a mid-build cancellation off the developer.
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