I have worked in this manner before. I charged an hourly rate to develop the requirements, which they paid and signed off on. I charged for the project on completion of each deliverable. Any changes they required after the requirements were approved were paid on an hourly basis. It worked out fine until they realized they were paying for a lot of extra stuff just to make their lawyers happy, and I could have done the job on an hourly basis much more coss-effectively.
I suggest you find other clients, and leave this one wondering why you weren’t interested. BTW, do their lawyers bill only after a case is settled satisfactorily? From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Leah Halpin Sent: Wednesday, April 06, 2011 9:26 AM To: Michael Mattias/LS Cc: [email protected] Subject: Re: [EDI-L] <MISC> - To all Contractors out there Hi Micheal, Great verbiage. I think the concern however, is what you've so clearly pointed out in your fantastic clause. Clients will avoid/delay testing, make modifications to the system and/or change business requirements and either through ignorance or by intent, make that the consultant's "error". Leah ________________________________ From: Michael Mattias/LS <[email protected] <mailto:mcmlserve%40talsystems.com> > To: EDI-L <[email protected] <mailto:EDI-L%40yahoogroups.com> > Sent: Wed, April 6, 2011 11:48:19 AM Subject: Re: [EDI-L] <MISC> - To all Contractors out there 4/6/11 I put stuff like this in my development contracts all the time... and I'm the one who wrote those terms. HOWEVER... I include a paragraph like this... oh, heck let me see if I can just cut and paste one for you... yeah, here's the applicable paragraph from my "boilerplate" software development contract.... "I. Warranty. Programming errors reported in writing to Contractor within ninety (90) days of final delivery of the software shall be corrected at no cost to CLIENT except for shipping and/or media charges; such correction shall be supplied within 30 days of said notice. This warranty shall terminate immediately at Contractor's discretion if changes are made to the source or object code of the software by Client or its designated agent other than Contractor. Programming errors are defined as conditions which prevent CLIENT from utilizing the software as specified in the documentation, or errors in the documentation. Desirable additions to the features and functions of the software, regardless of utility, are not considered programming errors; nor are changes required to the software as a result of CLIENT's elective use of new or modified releases of operating systems or utilities, new computers, or government mandates. Programming errors reported after the expiration of the warranty period are the responsibility of CLIENT. " Of course, this requires good documentation, which I generally supply as the FIRST "deliverable" and client must approve before I begin work. The documentation itself often is a 'payment point' .. that is, the client owes 'something' for it. Another thing I will add when I suspect "client internal testing" may get put on the back burner is like "Software shall be considered accepted if no report of errors is received within thirty days of delivery" - if you don't report an error in thirty days, there are no errors. (Above reads ninety but I often change that to thirty) I don't think you should have a problem agreeing to customer acceptance testing as long as you time-limit the test period relative to delivery. You do realize this is all moot if you ship what was ordered and it 'works as advertised', right? Michael C. Mattias Tal Systems Inc. Racine WI [email protected] <mailto:mmattias%40talsystems.com> Michael C. Mattias Tal Systems Inc. Racine WI [email protected] <mailto:mmattias%40talsystems.com> ----- Original Message ----- From: "steve hoff" <[email protected] <mailto:stevehoff_2000%40yahoo.com> > To: "Rich Silva" <[email protected] <mailto:richsilv%40pacbell.net> >; <[email protected] <mailto:EDI-L%40yahoogroups.com> > Sent: Wednesday, April 06, 2011 10:30 AM Subject: Re: [EDI-L] <MISC> - To all Contractors out there I have been doing this a while and I have never had to put that in a contract nor would I. Hoff Professional Consulting President/Director of IT Phone- 519-348-0895 Fax - 425-732-1861 Cell - 519-276-0489 E-mail - [email protected] <mailto:stevehoff_2000%40yahoo.com> ________________________________ From: Rich Silva <[email protected] <mailto:richsilv%40pacbell.net> > To: [email protected] <mailto:EDI-L%40yahoogroups.com> Sent: Wednesday, April 6, 2011 11:23 AM Subject: Re: [EDI-L] <MISC> - To all Contractors out there Or those of you with Contracting experience… OK, any of you…. Feel free to chime in… A prospective client of mine (their lawyers anyway) have asked that I add a clause to “Exhibit A of the Contractors Agreement” (Exhibit A, in their case is basically the place where I put in my billing terms…) that goes something like “…payment is not due until testing has been approved and completed…” I have a lot of issue with this, not only because it holds up payment on the entire contract until the end (and I am in no condition to support that) but because it also leaves me no leverage if they decide to withhold payment (for any reason)… I’d have made my “deliveries” and its not like I could “remove” them… (Other than legal). Not to mention that “Now” I/we will have to negotiate and agree on “Acceptance Criteria” which so far has been loosely “make it work”… (For a bit of context, it’s a multi month contract… Currently labeled as a “Phase 1” (of at least three)… And both sides (myself and my contacts within the company) are hoping that this turns into a “long friendly relationship”… I was curious if any of you have seen anything like this… And if any of you have some alternative positions I might offer while I negotiate around this issue? Thanx, Rich Description: Wizard Clip Art SigRichard Silva Silva Software Services – United States Phone: (310) 387-8364 Email: <mailto:[email protected] <mailto:RichSilv%40Pacbell.net> > [email protected] <mailto:RichSilv%40Pacbell.net> ü Please consider the environment before printing this email. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ ... Please use the following Message Identifiers as your subject prefix: <SALES>, <JOBS>, <LIST>, <TECH>, <MISC>, <EVENT>, <OFF-TOPIC> Job postings are welcome, but for job postings or requests for work: <JOBS> IS REQUIRED in the subject line as a prefix.Yahoo! Groups Links [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ ... Please use the following Message Identifiers as your subject prefix: <SALES>, <JOBS>, <LIST>, <TECH>, <MISC>, <EVENT>, <OFF-TOPIC> Job postings are welcome, but for job postings or requests for work: <JOBS> IS REQUIRED in the subject line as a prefix.Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EDI-L/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EDI-L/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: [email protected] [email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
