My buddy Dave did the exact same thing with his painting crew in Nampa, ran off texts for years until a guy stiffed him $3,800 on a fence job. Now he just has clients sign the estimate itself with a line at the bottom that says "signing means you agree to this price and these terms," takes two seconds and costs nothing. Hasn't had a problem since, and $1,500 for a lawyer template when your jobs are a few grand feels like overkill.

Flat pry bar with a rubber grip changed everything for me too, way less slipping.

There is a whole other layer to this that nobody talks about. When you clock in early for free, the boss slowly starts expecting it as the baseline, so if you ever stroll in right at start time you look like the slacker even though you are literally on time. I watched a guy at my old place get written up for being "late" when he walked in at 7:00 for a 7:00 shift, all because everyone else was showing up at 6:50 for free. That is how a favor turns into a rule without anyone ever writing it down. The free minutes are bad enough, but the bigger cost is it messes with your head about what normal even looks like.