Vent: My first LLC operating agreement was a mess and I'm torn on DIY vs lawyer

Last month I started a small landscaping business here in Tucson. I tried writing my own operating agreement using one of those online template sites. It cost me $49 and took about 2 hours. But then my buddy who runs a contracting company in Phoenix said I was crazy not to pay a lawyer $800 for a proper one after his partner sued him over some vague profit split language. Now I'm stuck wondering if the template is good enough for a simple two-owner setup or if I'm setting myself up for a headache later. Has anyone else used a DIY operating agreement and had it work out fine, or did you end up paying a lawyer to fix things after?

3 comments

3 Comments

carter.casey12d ago

Did you check if the template covers things like what happens if one of you wants out or how you handle disagreements? I went the cheap route on an operating agreement for my small woodworking shop with a cousin and it worked fine for about three years until we had a falling out over splitting equipment costs. The template just had a simple "split profits 50/50" line and absolutely nothing about buying each other out or handling disputes, so we ended up spending way more on a lawyer to untangle things than if we had just paid one upfront.

grant.felix12d ago

Why trust a $49 template when you can split a good lawyer's fee with your partner?

the_faith12d ago

A lawyer for a simple will can run you $1,500 to $3,000 around here. How many people actually KNOW a lawyer willing to split their fee that low, or are we talking about the lawyer they found on Google?