When you should not sign a contract

The author address a few learning points and raise awareness of a situation where a contractor might want to reconsider the typical advice about signing a written contract. The learning points are: 1. Try to have an agreement in writing before you start work. 2. Even a written proposal, containing the key terms, can form the written contract once accepted by the other party. 3. Watch out for acceptance by performance. 4. Don't automatically feel the need to sign a form agreement halfway through the project if the terms you've been performing under are acceptable and the proposed terms are not advantageous. 5. Beware of the contractor trying to force you sign their form contract near the end of the job.