Quote:
Originally Posted by V_RocKs
This is why I use Elance.
I can setup milestones with prices for them...
So basic layout of the project $250... day 2
Setup of the DB schema $100... day 3
Signin system for DB connection $150 day 5
etc... So the entire thing = $7000
Then each time he hits a milestone he gets paid the set amount. If he stops and doesn't hit the next milestone by the allotted time I can dump him and request someone else. Then they can jump in and have access to all of our notes and get caught up within a few hours and go from there.
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Exactly
For large projects, all my consultations are written out indicating times and cost for each milestone. And yes, the person wanting the work done spells out their milestones, but I break that down into programming milestones, because I know where the difficult bits will be that take time.
However, I do take those difficult bits and flow over the time into the previous 'easy' bit, so that in the end, the accumulated time is always more or less spot on.
That way, the client knows where the cruxes are, the possible problems that may or may not be solvable easily (and if not easily, the extra cost etc) and all is up front.
I will never take on a big project without this kind of consultation, because more often than not, the client has no idea about the difficulties in programming the steps, so they then see where things can go rapidly or slowly and there are no shocks on either side.