Les, interesting point on progress payments. I'm curious as to how and how many enforce billing based on progress.... ie 1/3 work done, 33.3% of job billed/paid.
Thanks, Michael -----Original Message----- From: Les Mizzell [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, December 29, 2005 10:09 AM To: CF-Talk Subject: Re: A Contractor or Two > When I 1st started contracting I had a hard time saying my rate out load.... Yea, same here. But, I'm almost too busy now, so maybe it's time to raise rates a little bit. I don't back down on them for anybody. I now do most jobs in phases: 1. Meet with client and work out site map and site functionality 2. Draw up a detailed contract specifying deadlines for things and whom is supplying what. Two things I'm always careful about: a. Client is responsible for delivering *all* content to me by a specified date or that voids my "complete" deadline. b. I do a very detailed site map listing all features. If they try to sneak a single additional feature in after development has started, then it's an *addition*, is billed additionally and adds additional time to the "complete" date. 3.Once all the above is approved, I get a partial payment (usually 1/3rd) before I do anything else. Until I get this payment, they're not going to see a single layout, because I had a client walk with my layouts, call me on the phone and go "we've decided to try something else", and then *use* the layouts for their site anyway. The partial payment is always enough to cover the initial graphic design. 4. From there I plow into the site/application structure, CSS and all that other good stuff. At some point in the process, defined in the contract, I get another payment. 5. After it's all finished, unless it's a client I've worked with before and trust, it doesn't go live until I'm paid in full. I've only been ripped off once in the last 10 years - and I manged to sell the site in question to somebody else, so the system is working pretty good in my opinion. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Find out how CFTicket can increase your company's customer support efficiency by 100% http://www.houseoffusion.com/banners/view.cfm?bannerid=49 Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:4:227924 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/4 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:4 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.4 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
