My contracts for web sites all demand 1/3 payment, upfront, non-refundable to start work. This usually covers my expenses. Typically, the other 2/3 is due at go-live.

This is now changing thanks to my current client. The new contract will be as such:

1/3 non-refundable deposit to start work, the next 1/3 will be due at some agreeable milestone, such as a date, or when the site is online ready for testing. The remaining 1/3 will be due at go-live.

Most clients are great, some, not so much. But I think this type of payment milestone system will help keep their attention.

-my 2 cents

Generally speaking, to overcome this, more, concurrent projects are undertaken, or rates are increased slightly to compensate, or (for projects which look like they may run over or have these problems), ask for a larger deposit up front – at least this means some costs are covered. If projects are delayed for quite a while, we’ll politely ask to be paid for what we’ve done so far (on that point, we tend to break medium-large projects into smaller phases which makes it easier for customers to sign off chunks of work, and/or, for us to invoice for those chunks if anything gets delayed or goes wrong)… we’re still learning though!

I also keep a few ideas for projects in the pot so if we go through a quiet patch we can experiment wtih those!

Jon

p.s. Don’t worry about it; I know you do your best to use your booked time, and understand what I’m going through

When I get clients who overtime gradually change things here and there, apart from find disorientating I’ll ask that we meet up and regain focus.

I’ll let them know I’m happy to be paid by the hour but they would find it beneficial if they can sit down and rethink their strategy. As from experience this happens when they haven’t really got a plan or the person who is my point of contact isn’t the real person with the final word.

Personally, I think that the threat of charging for unused time is a very good one. I expect that the client would either a) get their act in gear, or b) be more conservative in the booking of your time.

I would imagine that ‘a’ is preferable, but you may find that ‘b’ results in more last-minute requests. I am not sure.

As a freelance developer, I have often wondered why people are willing to pay me much more than an equivalent full-time wage. I think a part of the answer is that I have no real job security (in that they can cancel at a moments notice, or even simply not pay an invoice). So part of the reason I can charge more is that I need to be able to cover my costs when this happens.

I hope that helps!

Adam

PS. Disclaimer: Kat’s work-free week is somewhat due to our startup, sorry Kat!