Re: Newbie Contractor needs advice

["Eric J. Ray" <ejray -at- RAYCOMM -dot- COM>]

temoore -at- BELLSOUTH -dot- NET wrote:
> I'm new at this consulting gig. I'm sure you all remember that email I
> sent about a client who wanted a 100-page manual in 8 days. Well, as
> anticipated, the whole thing is a mess. The plan was that the SME would
> submit the content, and I would import the text and graphics into the
> template (basically a layout job). I expected to work 40-50 hours a week
> to get this accomplished. (Unfortunately, I was not able to negotiate a
> fixed-rate.)

It's a school of hard knocks--sounds like you got indoctrinated
early. Sorry to hear that. There are several lessons here, though...

First, if you "anticipated" or had a gut feeling that it's a mess,
walk away and don't look back. Following gut feelings is important,
and gets MORE important with experience.

Second, given what they were asking for, you should have been able
to negotiate the moon (and again walk away if they didn't deliver).
Assuming such an "opportunity" presented itself and I could clear my
calendar for it, I'd give them an "estimate" as a flat-rate,
and figure it at about 1.5 times normal hourly rate times 12 hours/
day for 10 days. If they wouldn't go for that, I'd negotiate
down slightly, but not much. If I went for an uncapped hourly
rate, I'd be sure to plan to charge for waiting time at full
rate (because of the very special circumstances) and I'd make that
clear to the client. I'd also tack on an hourly rate surcharge
for the overruns that _WILL_ happen. (Yes, I'd be setting up a
whole slew of reasons for the client to tell me to forget it,
which is half of the idea with a project like that. If the client
perseveres, it'd be worth the hassles.)

> I arranged time in my schedule to accommodate this client, and the SME
> has not been keeping up their end of the bargain. The result is that the

This is normal and to be expected. You have to structure contracts so
your deliverables are contingent on theirs. That is, don't say you'll
deliver anything on September 1--say, rather, that you'll deliver it
8 days after you get all of the source material. Then remind the
powers that be of the schedule slips as they happen (e.g., "it's
now August 28 and I don't have the source material, so the earliest
you'll see the copy is 8 days from now, which is September 5").
Additionally, for cases like this, make it clear that you've made
time in your schedule for their rush job, and don't hesitate to
charge them for it.

It's not unusual to require a partial payment up front, BTW.

> manual has been reduced to around 50 pages and I have not put in the
> hours expected. I wait and wait for the SME to submit the information
> needed, and I call and leave messages and email with the SME and the
> Project Manager to no avail. In fact, I spent an entire day and a half
> trying to get someone to answer my phone calls and even physically
> visited the office with no results. (Do I bill for that time?)

Yes, you bill for that time. If you're doing something related to
the project that you'd not otherwise have been doing, bill it.

> Because it's an hourly assignment, I've lost significant $ in the
> process. How do you, as contractors, protect yourself against this? Is
> it possible to require a client to agree to, say, a minimum of 40 hours
> a week for two weeks? How do you handle such situations?

Actually, as a novice, you've probably lost less and had a cheaper
lesson at an hourly rate than you'd have had at a fixed rate.

You protect yourself through several avenues.
First, make changes to your standard contract--that is, make
sure that each revision of your contract will cover the crises
of the last project.
Second, make ALL of your deliverables contingent upon client actions,
and spell everything out. (It sounds like you're a couple of weeks
from getting nailed by the multiple-and-iterative-reviews-just-until-
we're-sure-it's-all-right snafu that we've all done at least once.
Your contract should clearly state the number, scope, and duration
of the reviews.)
Third, make sure that there are financial penalties for client
screwups, particularly in cases like these, and don't deliver
your final materials until you've been paid or are REALLY SURE
you will be paid. In this case, for example, you could give them
a 300dpi printout with the invoice, and turn over the typeset
version and the electronic files upon receipt of the check.

Good luck, and keep us posted.
Eric

--
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Eric J. Ray                  ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com
UNIX Visual QuickStart Guide is "a superb book!"
Don't believe it? Check for yourself!
Find out more at http://www.raycomm.com/

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