Clients Waiting Till After Work Is Done To Voice Spec
 

Look, if you people need something done a certain way, I REALLY SUGGEST you tell the designers or person executing the order BEFORE they finish work.

I cant believe people wait until the entire work is done to ask for something thatbasically insists upon the entire work order being redone.

this is fucking amazing.

imagine building a house for someone then them telling you they anted a 2 story and not just 1 level.

fucking day is starting off great.

Been there, done that as well.

what did you do in this situation if you dont mind.

my schedule is too fucking packed to redo work.

i swear i am on my way out of the design business.

this shit is just too much time consuming, much more rewarding things to be done.

Honestly, it has happened a few times and I have caught myself typing something ready to tear someone's head off only to stop myself and just tell them it will get done.

This is one of the reasons I had my ordering script developed on my site. This has helped keep confusion down to a min...it asks just about any and every question regarding specs that I can imagine...then it leaves me to be able to be creative but still within their guidelines.

It also keeps people off of ICQ and emailing me 2, 3 even 4 times for one order..that was an issue before as well. I'd get 3 or 4 emails for one order and after trying to compile and comprehend what they wanted out of those different emails some minor detail would get lost in the shuffle..so now I try to stick to my ordering script and out of the one time I didn't use it recently...mistakes happened so I learned my lesson AGAIN. LOL

yeah this is not the first time this happened.

i just emailed that i will redo them.

i was biting my teeth too ;) but i am a nice guy in emails no matter what.

anyway, the reason this pisses me off is because i asked for all this info and shit before these people left for vacation. In fact, they had to get someone else to email me about the order while they were away.

I did the work, they return and the order isnt right.

no, I asked for the proper info before you left but was not supplied it.

if people would give me what i asked for the first time this wouldnt be happenein,g that is why i get aggrivated because i look out for this crap and it STILL HAPPENS.

anyway,... moving on. had to rant.

ah.. the joy of webdesign.. thats a reason why I left that ages ago...

btw.. can I give a shutout to Darren from Men's niche.. the rudest motherfucker I ever worked with.. I mean.. when the guy tells you whats need to be done along with threats.. it doesnt start off well... :1orglaugh Bitting your lips is a skill needed in webdesign...

I had some GREAT clients though :thumbsup

ive done work for Darren hehehe he was a charachter thats for sure.

hehehe

There is only one client I have that I don't require them to enter their information into the script..this is my top client and he has been very loyal to me and I pretty much know exactly what he needs..however I have to put my foot down for others especially with new orders or orders that are often different it only makes all parties that much happier when it gets done on time and correct.

eros if and when i stop taking NEW CLIENTS i assure you my problems will be gone.

this is a first time order for one of those who have never gotten design work done by someone .

i should have said i was too busy to take it like i normally do :Graucho

i have regulars who send me money weeks before they even get the project together and there is no worries, but its always these small new orders that cause the headaches, you know that.

I find when I say yes to things I know I shouldn't have I end up losing money on the deal...sure I get paid but the time and headaches that usually occur just are not worth it. :)

yes my time is worth more than i am getting on this one.

i asked for certain things that were not provided now the work will need to be redone.

never fails. always listen to the gut. always.

I always lay out scope up front. Document it, and base your cost on that scope.

Then, when a client requests a change, or anything that's not scoped, it's easy to point to your scope document and say "sure - we can do that. It'll take 3 days to implement, and will cost you $xxx.00 - wanna do it?"

Plus, having a change order makes it easy to know what was changed or added a year from now when they want upgrades, etc..

My ABSLOULTE FAVORITE is when I hear, "Do it however you want, I like your style" So I do it in MY style, and they say, "Hhmmm... Naw... I don't want it like that" :321GFY

used to have that shit happen all the time to me.

last guy that did it had me literally finish a layout, then would scrap it because "he changed his mind", 3 times. finally i flipped out on him and deleted all of his shit, told him to fuck off, and only do contract work for friends now. :thumbsup

Happens all the time in the software business...frustrating as hell :2 cents:

Yep the ol' "Just work your magic" order.

Same thing goes for developers/programmers.

But it's not something to complain about, at least as a developer. Most clients have a rough idea of what they want, but they always think it's trivial to update the spec in the middle of the project. And ya know, it is trivial, and YOUR job as the developer is to make crystal clear exactly what you're gonna do and how much it's gonna cost.

As the previous poster said, always itemize your time and your projects. That makes it easy to make a time/money estimate for additional work.

The worst thing a programmer can do is to start coding before a set of requirements and a specification have been laid out.

Note to anyone looking for coding projects: DO NOT trust someone who starts working on something before they've been able to describe exactly what you want and what they're going to do. These are the folks that make us look bad -- they seem to miss deadlines and allow projects to drag on and on.

The problem has more to do with communication than skill as a developer. I'd wager that clear and open communication accounts for at least 90% of a freelance developer's value to you, not his ability to write a little php script that updates a table in a database.

I think people often confuse "designers" with "consultants."

Especially when they are not sure what they want, and think you know what is best for them.

Just reply back with the price of the changes, and provide them with the email or ICQ logs where they never said that they wanted what they want now.

I fucking hate that. spit in their food fletch

Clients can be a big fucking headache sometimes. The most annoying thing is when they keep emailing, or icqing asking "hey is my site ready?" or my favorate "can I see what you done so far?" over and over and over. Even before the timeframe that I gave them. Don't they know that when their site(s) is/are ready, they will be notified asap?

Yep most assume they are the only one in cue...they also like to complain when you overbook..what they don't realize is that this can be a feast or famine biz and one day you're sitting on your ass and the next you're booked until Christ returns.