(….Not even if you look as cute as Toothless Johnny here while saying it)
(1) When you contract with anyone (client, contractor, employee, your dog) everything you say, orally or written, prior to or contemporaneous to contract will be excluded if it was not put into the contract. Um….?
EXAMPLE: I write you an email asking for 10 blue widgets for $10. You say in that email “that is a little low, but it is probably doable.” You send me a contract for 10 widgets for $15.00. I sign the contract but then argue, based on your email, it should be $10.00. Sorry, there is a contract for 10 widgets for $15.00, not $10.00. Don’t sign a contract that changes or contradicts what was said earlier, because the contract essentially rules.
(2) The same does NOT hold for modifications (i.e. amendments). Contracts can be modified after the fact. Usually, additional consideration is needed if its services (i.e. money), but not if its goods.
EXAMPLE: Hey you know how we contracted for 10 widgets for $15.00 last week? Can you add 5 more widgets for $3.00? You say “sure!” that is something that happens after the contract, I am safe, and I get my 5 more widgets for $3.00
MORAL OF THE BORING LEGAL STORY: Anything you say, negotiate, agree to, cajole, promise or think you have been promised BEFORE the agreement is executed better be IN that agreement or else bye bye to the $10 for 10 blue widgets you thought you scored. AFTER, you are safe. There are EXCEPTIONS to the rule, but that is way too much legal for one night.