Job cancellations would be a biggy these days perhaps.
Make sure they sign the terms once they agree the estimate, and make sure that you point out that if they cancel once they have signed, they would need to pay X% of the job labour costs.
I'm sick of hearing of people getting cancelled by text message the day before the job is meant to start!!!! That is NO WAY to treat a tradesman! Unless somebody has been taken seriously ill, I'd expect to pay the bloke so I'd expect to be paid if I was the bloke.
A lot of the harsh terms you can negotiate when you need to cross the bridge and perhaps even waive as a gesture of good will (after all if you end up working for them in the end, you do want them to call you again in the future and recommend you to friends etc).
But when it's one of those customers you know has just found a cheaper tiler and wanted you to cut corners and whatnot - then you know you can go in guns blazing with your terms and conditions.
Might be worth getting the final copy checked over by a solicitor of some form to make sure A) you're within the law and B) they're strong enough to send the debt collectors in if needs be.
If you get a license to provide credit (which you need to pay and apply for - with strict terms you'd need to abide by) you can even put unpaid marks on their credit file.
But perhaps your average tradesmen wouldn't need to do that. I know my uncle used to be at that sort of level with a conservatory firm he ran. Installing several a month means you've got thousands of pounds of stuff on order for customers who have only given you a signature. You need to get that money back if they're playing around and intending on not paying etc - It's law of averages when you install that much stuff for strangers that you get the odd one just trying to get a free conservatory.
