MKB Juristen drafts custom legal documents
It is best not to cobble together or copy important contracts, terms and conditions, and other legal documents yourself. We help entrepreneurs on a budget with customized legal solutions, clear costs upfront, and practical explanations.
- Custom contracts, terms and conditions, and legal documents
- Budget-friendly and clear about the costs upfront
- Request a free consultation or a no-obligation quote
The short version: having general terms and conditions drafted costs roughly between €350 and €2,500 in the Netherlands. At MKB Juristen, it is between €350 and €500; at larger firms, you generally expect to pay €1,500 to €2,500. A free template from the internet costs nothing — until the moment you understand why it was free.
Piet, the plasterer from our previous story, had learned his lesson. He called around for a decent set of terms and conditions. First firm: €1,800. Second: €2,300. “I want to buy a law firm, not a ship,” he grumbled. In this article, we walk through all the routes, explain where the price difference comes from, and — especially — when buying cheap really is expensive.
How much does it cost to draft general terms and conditions?
Having general terms and conditions drafted costs somewhere between €0 and €2,500 on the market, with a few clear thresholds in between. The larger the firm, the older the building, and the more suits at the desk, the higher the bill — though not always in that order. A rough indication of what you pay where:
- Free template or industry model: € 0 – € 50
- Tailored set from a specialized SME lawyer (such as MKB Juristen): € 350 – € 500
- Custom set for a larger or specialized law firm: € 1.500 – € 2.500
- International or highly customized work: even higher, simply because it involves more research.
The difference between the second and third routes is no typo: paying four to five times as much for essentially the same product. We will discuss whether that difference is justified later on.
The three routes and what they cost
Route 1: free template or industry model (€0 – €50)
An online generator, a free template from your trade association, or a piece of text that a colleague “just got from the internet.” Cheap, sometimes not bad at all (industry-specific templates are often decent), but rarely fully tailored. The risk lies in what you don't know isn't included. Therefore, read about the risks of copy-and-paste contracts before taking this route.
Route 2: specialized SME lawyer (€ 350 – € 500)
A legal expert who knows the SME sector inside out will draft your terms and conditions from scratch or adapt a solid foundation to your specific situation. At MKB Juristen, this amount falls within this range. You receive a custom set tailored to your industry and target audience, plus an explanation of how to present them to clients (the so-called 'handing over' – the part where most terms and conditions ultimately fail).
Route 3: larger law firm (€1,500 – €2,500)
Beautiful premises in the Zuidas, coffee from a machine that costs €8,000 itself, and an hourly rate to make you stop and think. For complex, international, or highly regulated situations, that is sometimes justified. For the average Dutch SME, usually not. We previously explained the difference between a lawyer and a legal expert in the difference between a lawyer and a legal expert.
SME Lawyers vs. the market: the price difference explained
A set of general terms and conditions consists of roughly fifteen clauses, and those clauses are broadly the same throughout the Netherlands. The Civil Code applies equally to everyone; the art lies in applying it correctly to your situation. The question, therefore, is not what is different for €2,000 more, but whether that extra difference is worth the effort.
Three honest differences between the SME lawyer route and the large firm:
- Overhead. A large firm pays more for rent, secretaries, and interns in suits. Those costs are included in your invoice.
- Hourly rate. Lawyers often charge two to three times the hourly rate of a specialized SME legal counsel. That adds up on an assignment that takes about five to eight hours.
- Target group. Large firms more frequently serve listed or international clients. Their standard package is designed for situations that the average plasterer or webshop never encounters.
For most SMEs, therefore, at a large firm you are paying for risks you do not have, for suits you do not see, and for clients you are not. Having general terms and conditions drafted by a specialized SME lawyer will cost you between €350 and €500 — and for the vast majority of SMEs, that covers exactly what is needed, and not a euro more.
What determines the price within that range?
There is also a difference between €350 and €500. The price depends on a handful of specific things:
- Do you sell to consumers or businesses? Consumer terms and conditions are more complex because additional legal obligations apply (right of withdrawal, information obligations, conformity). Expect to be at the higher end of the range.
- How complex is your service or product? A rate card with three services is simpler than a platform with subscriptions, one-off assignments, and third-party suppliers.
- Industry. Construction, ICT, healthcare, and hospitality each have their own risks and standard agreements. The more specific, the more attention.
- Setup or inspection. Having an existing set audited is cheaper than starting from scratch. We'll get to that in a moment.
- Additional documents. Webshop? Factor in that, in addition to your Terms and Conditions, you also need a proper privacy statement and a cookie policy. Separate products, often with a combination discount
- Customization versus adapting a model. Do you start from scratch or adapt a good foundation? The legal expert sees the difference immediately, and you notice it in the price as well. Read more about this in the difference between customization and generational contracts.
Drafting general terms and conditions for free: is that possible?
Yes. You are perfectly entitled to draft general terms and conditions yourself — there is no law requiring a lawyer or notary to do so. The rules are set out in Section 6.5.3 of the Dutch Civil Code and are accessible to everyone. You can start with an industry template or an online generator and refine it yourself. For the full how-to, we refer you to our comprehensive guide on drafting general terms and conditions.
The cost of a free route is not visible on the invoice. It lies in the evenings you spend on it, the clauses you accidentally copy from the blacklist, and the liability that is not limited because you didn't know it was required. If your work is straightforward and your risks are small, that's fine. If substantial amounts or consumers are involved: better not. A handy overview for entrepreneurs can also be found at the Chamber of Commerce's Ondernemersplein.
Drafting or having it checked: the cost difference
Not everyone needs a new set. If you already have terms and conditions—from the free past, or inherited from a previous owner—a check is often sufficient. A legal expert reads them, marks what is incorrect, and suggests improvements. This is generally cheaper than drafting from scratch, because it involves less writing.
View the options for having your general terms and conditions drafted or reviewed — it also states which process suits your situation.
What do you get for your money from a lawyer?
With a decent SME lawyer, you don't just pay for the document. You pay for:
- An intake during which the lawyer asks you questions about how you work, with whom, and what type of risks you face.
- A set tailored to your industry, target audience, and working method — not a giveaway template with your name slapped onto it.
- Explanation of usage: how to provide the terms and conditions to clients (before or at the time of concluding the agreement, otherwise they will be worthless), how to refer to them in quotations and on invoices, and what to do if the client presents their own terms and conditions.
- Short-term follow-up care. One or two small questions afterwards, without the meter starting up again.
At a large firm, you get essentially the same thing, often with more pages and more legalistic wording. Whether that is worth the extra two thousand is something you have to decide for yourself. For most SME entrepreneurs, the answer is no.
When buying cheap really is expensive
Back to Piet. In his previous life, he used terms and conditions he had plucked from a half-forgotten website. A client of €9,000 refused to pay, and because his limitation of liability turned out to be invalid and he had never properly provided his terms, he was stuck. The end result: invoice partially written off, legal fees added, sleepless nights as a bonus.
Piet's free terms ultimately cost him many times the price of a decent custom-made set. It's a bit like the umbrella with holes from the previous post: exactly when you need it, you find out it doesn't work.
A few amounts to keep in mind:
- A set of tailored general terms and conditions at MKB Juristen: €350 – €500 (one-time)
- A lost lawsuit over an unpaid invoice of €5,000 plus legal costs: easily €3,000 – €8,000
- A failed limitation of liability in a serious damage claim: as much as the damage amounts to
Do the math yourself. In each of those scenarios, you will earn back the cost of a custom set twice over.
How do you request a quote?
The way to get a good price is to ask a good question. Make sure you have three things in order when making a request:
- What exactly do you do? A brief description of your service or product and your customers (consumers, businesses, both).
- What do you have already? No conditions, an existing set that needs checking, or a copied document you have doubts about.
- Do you need extra documents? Privacy statement, cookie policy, disclaimer — arranging everything in one go is usually cheaper than doing it separately.
With those three answers, you get a concrete price indication in five minutes instead of the standard "it depends" list. Request a quote via the terms and conditions service page — it also lists which document combinations are useful.
Frequently Asked Questions
A custom set costs roughly between €350 and €2,500 in the Netherlands. At specialized SME lawyers, such as MKB Juristen, the price ranges between €350 and €500. At larger or specialized law firms, you can generally expect to pay €1,500 to €2,500. A free template or industry model is an option, but rarely covers everything you need.
Due to higher overhead (rent, support staff) and higher hourly rates charged by lawyers. For complex, international, or highly regulated situations, this is sometimes justified. For typical SME work, however, it usually is not — you are paying for risks and standard packages that do not suit your business.
Yes. Industry templates (often free for members of a trade association) and online generators cost nothing to a few tens of euros. You are also allowed to draft them entirely yourself. The risk lies in clauses that do not suit your situation or are not permitted for consumers, and in the duty to provide information, which is easy to overlook.
In most cases, yes. Checking an existing set takes fewer hours than writing a new set, because the lawyer primarily reads, highlights, and adjusts rather than building from scratch. If you already have terms and conditions, request a check first.
An intake, a set of general terms and conditions tailored to your industry and target audience, an explanation of the provision process (to ensure your terms and conditions are legally valid), and brief aftercare for minor follow-up questions. View the service page for current content and combinations.
If you have a website or webshop, yes. General terms and conditions are different from a privacy statement or cookie policy. Most SMEs handle these documents all at once; that is often cheaper than requesting them separately.
For a custom set, you generally expect one to two weeks, depending on how quickly you answer questions during the intake and how many revision rounds you require. Checking an existing set can be faster; ask your lawyer for a specific turnaround time.
