What To Do Before a Contract Closes on Upwork

When wrapping up a project as a freelancer, you want to prepare for the contract to close. Before the client ends the contract, make sure that they’re satisfied with the work you’ve delivered. You can also take the opportunity to express your interest in working with them again and gently remind them to leave a review. How you approach the end of a contract can impact the relationship you build with the client and leave the door open for future opportunities. 

This article will explore what to do before you hand over your final deliverables and the client closes your contract on Upwork. 

Importance of closing contracts properly 

How you end a contract with a current client is just as important as onboarding a new one. Every interaction with a client helps to cultivate your relationship, and you want the client to have a positive experience working with you from start to finish. Rather than submitting your final deliverable without a note and signing off, you can create an offboarding process that you complete for each client.

The goal is for clients to leave positive reviews and keep the door open for future work. You may have other skills that the client could use for upcoming projects. Even if your skills are only a service that a client typically needs once, they could refer you to a colleague if they enjoyed working with you. 

Make sure you fulfilled your work contract

Before submitting your final deliverables, double-check that you’ve fulfilled your work contract. Review the client’s initial offer, project briefs or mockups, and message history to make sure you didn’t miss any tasks or edits. 

Every client is different—some clients are more vocal and willing to address issues than others. While you can’t guarantee positive feedback from a client, consistently meeting (and exceeding) expectations is a best practice for success.

Tip: Regularly checking in with your client and sending them drafts, ideas, and concepts can help you stay on track and aligned with their vision. 

Completing fixed-price vs. hourly contracts 

As a freelancer on Upwork, you may have a combination of fixed-priced and hourly contracts. Both of these contracts offer payment protection (when terms and conditions are followed), so you always get paid for the work that you do. 

Fixed price contracts

When working on fixed-price contracts, the client funds the projects in escrow. These funds are released to you after you submit your work, and the client approves the milestone. They will be automatically released after 14 days if the client doesn’t approve the work or request any changes. 

You don’t have to track your hours for payment protection through Upwork. The client may ask that you track your time, and you can use the Upwork desktop app or another time-tracking app. Once you’re finished with your milestone, submit your work through Upwork. You can do this by going to My jobs, clicking <<Submit payment>>, and attaching your work. 

You don’t have to close a fixed-price contract as a freelancer, but the client may choose to do so if they don’t have any more milestones needed. Closing the contract allows both you and the client to leave public and private reviews. 

Hourly contracts

Freelancers can invoice time for hourly contracts using the Upwork desktop app. These contracts also have payment protection. Choose which client you want to log hours for and start tracking your time while you work. 

The Upwork work week ends at midnight UTC on Sundays. Upwork automatically invoices the client on Monday, and they have until Friday to approve or dispute the hours. The funds are released to freelancers on the following Wednesday. 

Once you end an hourly contract, your Work Diary locks and you won’t be able to log any additional hours. You or the client can end an hourly contract once the work is completed. 

Typically, freelancers wait for clients to end a contract to make sure they’ve completed all of their assigned tasks and to avoid missing out on potential projects. Once you close the contract, the client will need to create a new one before you can start working together again. 

Share the final draft

Before submitting your work for approval, you can share the final draft and ask the client if they would like any last-minute edits or changes. Ideally, you’ve been sharing updates along the way, and this isn’t the first time the client has seen what you’ve been working on. 

Giving the client your final draft before submitting it is another chance to make edits. Once you submit your work for approval, the client may not feel comfortable asking for further edits or changes, which can lead to negative reviews. You want to keep the communication open and resolve issues before submission. 

Ask if the client is satisfied with your work

When you send clients your final draft, add a note asking if they’re satisfied with your work. Reputation is everything in freelancing. The time and effort you put in to make sure you’ve met and exceeded client expectations can lead to positive reviews and feedback that help grow your business.

Here is an example of a note that you can send: 

Hi [client name],

I wanted to send you my final draft before officially submitting it for review to make sure you’re completely satisfied with the work I’ve done. I am happy to make any changes or edits that you need. 

If everything looks good, I’d really appreciate your feedback after we close the contract. Feedback helps me to improve as a freelancer and grow my business on Upwork. 

Thank you,

[Your name] 

Benefits of clients closing the contract

Once a client closes a contract, they will have the option to leave public feedback. This feedback helps you to build your reputation on Upwork and impacts your Job Success Score (JSS). If you’re just starting on Upwork, you may want to encourage your first couple of clients to close their contracts once you’ve completed the project to earn reviews. 

Positive reviews from recent clients boost your credibility and can help you land more interviews and offers. Each review is an endorsement of your skills and abilities, giving potential clients more confidence in hiring you. 

Having open contracts as a freelancer doesn’t negatively impact your JSS, even if the client doesn’t assign your milestones or you don’t log hours. 

Fixed-price contracts become dormant after 90 days of inactivity from the latest milestone’s due date. Upwork will notify the client if funds are in escrow. If the client does not take any action within 7 days, the freelancer then has 7 days to request the funds. The client will have 14 days to respond; if they do not, the funds will automatically be released to the freelancer. If neither the client nor the freelancer takes action, the escrow funds are automatically released to the client.

If you’ve been working with the client and they made a payment at least 30 days ago, you can request mid-contract feedback for fixed-price or hourly contracts. This is helpful for freelancers who are new to Upwork and need reviews for their profiles and JSS.

Reviews are just one part of your JSS calculations and how Upwork measures freelancer success; Upwork also factors in contract length. You don’t have to worry about having a client close a contract, so you have multiple “successful jobs” completed. Ongoing contracts help your JSS if you are assigned milestones and log hours.

Having long-term relationships with clients is another positive indicator for freelancers. These demonstrate that in addition to your expertise, you also have valuable soft skills needed to maintain lasting relationships with clients. 

Submit final deliverables

After you’ve shown the client your final draft and made any last-minute edits or changes, you’ll want to submit the final deliverables before your deadline. Make sure you follow the proper steps, clicking <<Submit work>> in your fixed-price contract or uploading your deliverables into Upwork Messages if hourly. 

Add a note of appreciation

Along with your deliverables, you can add a note of appreciation for your clients. While you can use a template, try to personalize each message. Clients will appreciate the thoughtful touch as it typically feels more genuine than a generic copy-and-pasted message. 

In this note, you can let the client know that you enjoyed working with them. This also gives you the opportunity to ask if they have any upcoming projects that you could work on. You can also suggest other services you think they could be interested in. Remind them to save you to their Virtual Talent Bench if they don’t have any immediate projects so they can easily find you once they do. 

Remember, you can encourage your clients to leave honest feedback but never insist they give you a 5-star review. Demanding feedback or completing quick jobs in return for positive feedback is against Upwork’s terms of service. 

Here is an example of a note you could send along with your final deliverables: 

Hi [client name],

I’ve really enjoyed being a part of [project] and have attached the [final deliverable]. I would love to work together again if you have any upcoming projects. I also offer [services], which could be helpful for future projects. 

If you don’t have any projects coming up, you can save my profile to your Virtual Talent Bench so you can easily find me when you need my services. 

I’d also really appreciate any feedback you can share about your experience—it helps me continue to improve as a freelancer and lets other clients know what to expect when working with me.

Looking forward to staying in touch,

[Your name]

Turn on the Available Now badge

After finishing a contract, if your client doesn’t want to start another, you can turn on your Availability Badge to signal to other clients you’re ready to take on more projects right now. This badge appears on your profile with a blue lightning bolt and “Available Now.”

Turning on this badge can increase your chances of receiving 70% more invites from clients. You can turn this badge on and off as needed to control your flow of work. When searching for freelancers, clients can choose an “Available now” filter to find talent with this badge activated. 

Ending a contract early

Sometimes, as a freelancer, you may need to end a contract early. This could be because of personal reasons or if a client has become too difficult to work with. Ending a contract early can negatively impact your JSS, but it’s not the end of the world. If you need to end a contract early on Upwork, here are the steps you’ll need to take depending on the type of contract. 

You can end an hourly contract at any time, but keep in mind this will lock your Work Diary. Your client will be billed for the hours you’ve worked up until that point. Before ending your contract, let your client know as soon as possible that you need to close the contract and why. 

They will have the opportunity to leave you a review once you’ve ended the contract. A negative review can impact your JSS. A personal note explaining your situation can help them be more understanding. 

Ending a contract is the same process, whether it’s fixed price or hourly. If you’re ending on a fixed-price contract before completing your milestone, the funds that are in escrow will automatically be released back to the client. 

Once you’ve informed your client that you need to end the contract, you can go to your Active Contracts. Choose the contract you want to end. Click the three dots at the right-hand corner of the screen and select either <<Issue a Refund>> or <<End Contract>> depending on whether you’ve completed work and want to get paid. 

If you’ve completed some work but can’t continue, you can issue your client a refund. This can sometimes help avoid negative reviews but isn’t a guarantee. 

Freelancers using Project Catalog™ have 24 hours to cancel a client project once receiving the requirements without any penalty from Upwork. Clients are automatically refunded. 

JSS score impact

Upwork measures a freelancer’s success on the platform through JSS. You can learn more about your JSS and how it’s calculated on your Job Success insights page. A key element of your JSS is client satisfaction, which is based on the public feedback and contract ending reason the client leaves after the contract closes.

When a contract ends, clients have the option to leave feedback to the freelancer—even if no work was completed or payments were received. Closing a contract early is sometimes necessary, but it does put you at risk of receiving negative feedback, which affects your JSS. 

Client feedback is always optional. As a freelancer, you can do your best to meet client expectations and offer opportunities for edits or changes before the contract ends, but ultimately, feedback is up to the client. 

If you receive negative feedback and your JSS drops, try not to panic. Upwork calculates your JSS every day, and it’s based on your 6-, 12- and 24-month history in the marketplace. This means that you can work to improve your JSS if it lowers. Keep in mind you do need to maintain a JSS of at least 90% to be considered eligible for Upwork talent badges. If your JSS drops below 90%, you could lose the status you’ve earned. 

Follow up with unresponsive clients 

Part of freelancing is working with many different types of clients. Some may be more responsible and reply to your messages faster than others. As a freelancer on Upwork, your hourly and fixed-priced projects have payment protections when conditions are followed. All you need to do is submit your work or hours, and even if the client doesn’t respond, you will get paid for your work.  

If your client becomes unresponsive for long periods of time on Upwork, you have the option to end the hourly contract. On a fixed-priced contract, unless you can’t complete the work without their input, you’re typically better off finishing your milestone and submitting it for payment. 

Before ending an hourly contract or finishing a milestone without having your questions answered, give your client an opportunity to respond. Always keep communications in Upwork Messages to protect you. This is important for payment protection and if you need to file a dispute. 

Here is an example of a message you can send an unresponsive client: 

Hi [client name],

I wanted to check in because you haven’t responded to my [past messages/drafts/questions]. I need your input before I can move forward. I would appreciate a timely response so that I can stay on track to meet our agreed-upon deadline. 

Please let me know if I need to make any changes. If I do not hear back by [insert date/time], I will move forward with submitting the deliverable so I don’t miss our deadline. 

Hope all is well,

[Your name] 

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