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I always only place Upwork projects on a result, not hourly base. Exceptions are consulting projects. Just curious on why you are using the hourly rate system

I always only place Upwork projects on a result, not hourly base. Exceptions are consulting projects. Just curious on why you are using the hourly rate system on an outcome specific project?

mtlynch 8y ago
Thanks for reading! Hourly vs. fixed is always a hard decision for me. I feel like there are perverse incentives with both. For a fixed-cost project, I feel like it incentivizes the freelancer to finish the project as soon as possible, so quality becomes a cost for them. And there's a weird imbalance of power because I, as the client, can keep demanding tweaks/polish past the point where it's reasonable (the client and freelancer likely have a different view of how many tweaks are "reasonable"). The other issue is that not all reports are equal. If I assign the freelancer to write a report that answers the question "Is Propel keto?" They can just look that up and write it in about five minutes. But there are harder questions like, "Is coffee keto?" There are many different types of coffee, so it's difficult to write a single report that covers them all succinctly. Or, "Is erythritol keto?" With any sweeteners, there's often some debate about whether they're keto-friendly, so it requires more work to summarize the debate. I didn't want to get into a situation where the freelancer is annoyed to get a "hard" report because they only earn the same as an "easy" report. And I didn't want to negotiate each report separately. Hourly contracts solve those problems, but it brings others. The biggest issue is that it obscures costs. I can't predict in advance how much I'll end up paying for the work. And earning by the hour can incentivize the freelancer to drag their feet to pad the bill. I haven't ever experienced that in practice though. Overall, I feel like hourly contracts align incentives better between the freelancer and the client. I'll typically do fixed-cost contracts if I only have a few defined tasks I want (e.g., "I'll pay you $250 to add this feature to my site").

I always only place Upwork projects on a result, not hourly base. Exceptions are consulting projects. Just curious on why you are using the hourly rate system on an outcome specific project?

mtlynch 8y ago

Thanks for reading! Hourly vs. fixed is always a hard decision for me. I feel like there are perverse incentives with both. For a fixed-cost project, I feel like it incentivizes the freelancer to finish the project as soon as possible, so quality becomes a cost for them. And there's a weird imbalance of power because I, as the client, can keep demanding tweaks/polish past the point where it's reasonable (the client and freelancer likely have a different view of how many tweaks are "reasonable"). The other issue is that not all reports are equal. If I assign the freelancer to write a report that answers the question "Is Propel keto?" They can just look that up and write it in about five minutes. But there are harder questions like, "Is coffee keto?" There are many different types of coffee, so it's difficult to write a single report that covers them all succinctly. Or, "Is erythritol keto?" With any sweeteners, there's often some debate about whether they're keto-friendly, so it requires more work to summarize the debate. I didn't want to get into a situation where the freelancer is annoyed to get a "hard" report because they only earn the same as an "easy" report. And I didn't want to negotiate each report separately. Hourly contracts solve those problems, but it brings others. The biggest issue is that it obscures costs. I can't predict in advance how much I'll end up paying for the work. And earning by the hour can incentivize the freelancer to drag their feet to pad the bill. I haven't ever experienced that in practice though. Overall, I feel like hourly contracts align incentives better between the freelancer and the client. I'll typically do fixed-cost contracts if I only have a few defined tasks I want (e.g., "I'll pay you $250 to add this feature to my site").