Re: FN-FORUM: Advice on payment agreement.

date posted 20th July 2005 09:53

As a lurker on these forums...i would rate that as the most informative
post ever!

Well done.
# [EMAIL REMOVED]
>
> Hi,
>
> I would agree with Julian as to the payment splits and the absolute
> requirement to walk away if he won't do that or won't pay.
>
> 40% up front
> 50% on delivery (before the site goes live)
> 10% 30 days later as a "bug fixing period, where a bug is something
> clearly
> defined in the written spec that is returning errors or is absent"
>
> Create a written spec before the job starts and ensure he has signed off
> on
> this before you start the work, otherwise he'll be changing his mind every
> 5
> minutes and refusing to pay anything to waste your time.
>
> So the entire procedure should be, and this worked for me when I
> freelanced
> and it works for the company I work FT for now:
>
> 1. Agree rough spec and ballpark quote
> 2. You produce a written spec outlining what's going to happen and for how
> much. Do not produce this until the client has agreed in writing that you
> are going to be doing the job, otherwise he can take it to [much cheaper
> non-UK developer] and just ask them to do it for less.
> 3. The spec goes between you and the client until he agrees with it. If he
> can't pay what the spec will charge, remove stuff from the spec - don't do
> it for less.
> 4. Client signs off on the spec, signs something to agree with the spec
> and
> the payment terms, pays you 40% up front, development begins.
> 5. Show client stuff during development so he knows work is proceeding
> according to schedule and that you haven't done a runner with his 40%. If
> at
> any stage he says "ooh, can we have this?" or "oh, can we change that?"
> make
> a judgement call - if it isn't in the spec, you can charge for it as an
> enhancement as it isn't something he's agreed to pay for.
> 6. When the project is ready, tell the client. Move the project to "live"
> only when the 50% payment has been received. Issue an invoice for the
> final
> 10% payment with a 30 day payment window.
> 7. Support the project for the agreed 30 day period, bug-fixing etc as
> required. After 30 days, if the client has not paid the 10%, turn the site
> off until he has.
>
> This works. If the client won't do any of that, move on, tell them to come
> back when they will. There are a few common-sense things to include along
> the way (eg. don't develop the site on their server, ensure their server
> can
> do what your development site can do etc), but it's basically sound.
>
> Good luck.
>
> Iain
>
>
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