Direct answer

Silence mid-project is a decision nobody has said out loud yet. Get it said.

A stalled project is worse than a dead one: the slot stays booked, the work sits half-paid, and you cannot plan around a maybe. Here is the ladder that turns silence into a decision, restart on a date or close out at the current stage, plus the close-out package that gets the finished work paid for either way.

See the instrument first: the live demo runs one real call and hands you its verifiable receipt, no signup.

Updated October 19, 2026. The delivery record quoted below is real and public, re-checked against the live service on publication day.

Busy or gone: read the signals first

Most mid-project silence is a busy client, not a vanished one, and the first message should assume that. Busy looks like slow replies that still move the job: a stage gets accepted, a question gets answered, a payment lands. Gone looks like dates slipping without comment, a delivered stage sitting unaccepted, and silence across two channels. The ladder below is the same for both; a busy client climbs down it at step one, glad of the nudge, and a gone client meets it at step three, where the close-out is already prepared.

The restart ladder

Step one, the short check-in, with the record link in it: here is exactly where the job stands, this stage is delivered and waiting, the next step needs your acceptance by roughly this date. Make it answerable in one line, because a client who owes you a decision is avoiding a big reply, not a small one. Step two, the two-doors email, a week or so later: door one, we restart on a named date and the schedule resets; door two, we close out at the current stage and I invoice for the work completed. Both doors are fine, and say so. What is not on offer is door three, the slot held open indefinitely. Step three, the close-out notice on the day you named: the stage closes today, the close-out package follows, and the slot is released.

The close-out package

Close-out is a delivery, so package it like one. The work-to-date record: every stage completed, checked, and timestamped, including the stage that was delivered and never accepted. The final invoice for the completed stages at the agreed prices. And a plain statement of what transfers now (everything paid for) and what waits (the final files and any unfinished stage, until the close-out settles). A record that states its own state honestly is the whole package's backbone:

A record of what was actually delivered and checked

Filed by an independent studio for its own delivery, recomputable by anyone, with its weak claims printed on its face. A close-out built on a record like that is hard to argue with, because there is nothing in it the client has to take your word for.

The silence clause, for next time

One line in your standard agreement ends most of this: if a delivered stage gets no response within ten business days, the stage closes, is invoiced as delivered, and the slot is released; restarting later is a new booking. Pair it with per-stage deposits and a pause right you have already used this job, and silence stops being a risk you carry and becomes a term the client agreed to.

What this page does not settle

Whether you can invoice for part-finished work, and what happens to a half-done project, turns on your agreement and local rules; with no written terms, the delivery record of completed stages is your strongest evidence of what was done and accepted. This page is general information, not legal advice. A verifiable receipt proves the saved result was not changed since it was saved; it does not prove the work was correct, and Zambo never holds your money or the client's.

Frequently asked questions

My client went quiet in the middle of a project. How do I restart it or close it out?

Climb the ladder. First, a short check-in that carries the record link and the exact state of the job: this stage is delivered and waiting, acceptance by roughly this date restarts the schedule, answerable in one line. Second, about a week later, the two-doors email: restart on a named date, or close out at the current stage with an invoice for the work completed, both presented as fine. Third, on the day you named, the close-out notice: the stage closes, the close-out package follows, and the slot is released. Then deliver the package: the work-to-date record, the invoice for completed stages, and a plain statement of what transfers now and what waits for settlement. Silence ends when continuing to be silent has a stated consequence.

How long do I wait between the check-in and the close-out?

For most client work: the check-in goes out after a few working days of silence past an agreed date, the two-doors email about a week after that, and the close-out notice on a named day roughly two weeks from the check-in, with the date stated in the two-doors email so the notice surprises nobody. Shorten it when a launch date or an outside deadline is burning, lengthen it once for a client with a real emergency who is communicating about it. What matters is not the exact count, it is that each step names the next date, so the client always knows what happens if the silence continues.

Can I invoice for the work I have done so far?

For completed stages, yes, that is the normal close-out: each stage was agreed at a price, the stage was delivered, and the record shows it. Invoice stage by stage against the delivery record, not as one vague percentage of the project, because a stage with a dated, checkable record behind it is a fact and a percentage is an opinion. Work inside a stage that never completed is the grey area; price it by what was actually delivered and usable, and expect your agreement, if it says anything about early close, to govern. The invoice that arrives with the record attached gets argued with least.

What do I do with the unfinished files?

Split them by payment, not by folder. Everything the client has paid for transfers, including working files if your agreement says so. The final deliverables for unpaid stages, and the unfinished stage itself, wait until the close-out settles, and the close-out letter says exactly that, with the amount that releases them. Keep your own copies and the delivery record intact either way: a quiet client who returns in three months wanting to restart is a new booking, and the record of where the job stopped is what makes restarting clean instead of archaeology.

How do I make silence cheap on the next job?

Price the risk into the structure instead of absorbing it. Per-stage deposits, so no stage runs far ahead of its payment. A silence clause in your standard terms: a stage unanswered for ten business days closes and is invoiced. And run the job through Zambo, so the stages, the deliveries, and the acceptances sit on one record the client can reopen from any of your messages, which makes the check-in a link instead of an argument. For $0.99, run the next job on that footing, with the record building as the work happens: https://zambo.dev/day-pass/ A Day Pass covers 24 hours, no subscription. Ongoing use is the Zambo Pass at $29 a month or $290 a year, and $19 a month for $ZAMBO holders, which adds private handover links, your branding, and the approval record as PDF and JSON files.

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