I moonlighted for about 6 months before going full-time freelance. Almost all of my moonlight work I found through oDesk (www.odesk.com), which meant I got paid hourly through oDesk's system (buyer paid oDesk each month, oDesk paid me). This worked great because I didn't have to worry about getting stiffed on a job if I hadn't asked for a deposit up front.
That being said, now that I'm full-time and don't deal with oDesk anymore I **try** to always get a 50% deposit up front because most of my jobs are quoted by project (i.e., I'm not working on an "hourly" basis per se, although I create quotes based on the estimated number of hours I think it will take me to do the work). Most of my jobs are large enough for this. However, I do take on small pure hourly jobs here and there and almost never ask for a deposit. I would think a 40-80 hour job would be large enough to warrant asking for a deposit. I think your idea of 20% wouldn't be unreasonable if you and the client both agree that there would be *NO* way of the job taking less than the amount of hours the 20% covers. I'd also make it clear that if the client pays you the 20% and then decides not to do the project, you keep that deposit as a kill fee. -----Original Message----- From: Ian Skinner [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2008 10:48 AM To: CF-Community Subject: Question for the independent contractors out there. I have a pretty good full time job that I have only been in for ~1/2 year and I am not really looking for anything new. I'm open any six figure, golden opportunity that cares to come knocking, but otherwise I am happy where I am at. As with most people, I could use a little extra each month and I have been getting some lukewarm feelers for some after hours, moonlighting contract work. I have a question for those of you who do this kind of thing day in and day out. Is it fair and reasonable to ask for some part of the payment up front? If so how much and how would you word it? I have been burnt in the past where the time it took to get payment put me in serious hurt with my personal finances. This is probably less of a concern now with a full time regular paycheck to back things up, but still I would like confidence that I am dealing with people who are going to pay me for what I do for them. If you where taking small 40 to 80 hour jobs over a period of a month or two would it be unreasonable to ask for 20% or something up front? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Adobe® ColdFusion® 8 software 8 is the most important and dramatic release to date Get the Free Trial http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;160198600;22374440;w Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/message.cfm/messageid:251706 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
