4 ms·
I'm not a consultant/contractor, I have a fixed salary and have been an employee here for over 20 years. But wouldn't it better for both consultant and custome
by ta1243 2y ago
I'm not a consultant/contractor, I have a fixed salary and have been an employee here for over 20 years.
But wouldn't it better for both consultant and customer to agree regular "gates". Agree on $100k of work for 10 units of work or whatever, but agree that it's paid in instalments of $10k every time each milestone is passed, ensuring that any misunderstandings are understood sooner.
The customer would benefit in that they don't have to wait 3 months to get a waterfall delivery which perhaps meets the spec, but not their requirement
The consultant benefits in that they don't do 3 months of work and don't get a penny until the customer is happy
- kmoser 2y agoA smart consultant will include milestones like this in the contract: not just milestones for what they are expected to deliver, but milestones for when the client is expected to pay them, as well as milestones for when third parties (and/or the client) are expected to provide additional input/data/opinions. The contract should also describe what happens when those milestones are not met, e.g. for every day that milestone X is not met, then milestone Y will be pushed back accordingly, or the cost for Z will go up by some amount. A well written contract should make it almost irrelevant whether you're getting paid hourly or for a fixed cost, because you (and the client) are covered either way.
- __mharrison__ 2y agoLots of consultants do this. They call them retainers.