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Ask HN: Concept for consultants to combat late payments

2 points by datashovel 12y ago

I wanted to prefix the title with "Ask HN", but the post was far longer than the 2000 limit. I figured I should follow the convention of using the 'text' instead of the 'url' field for 'Ask HN' posts. Due to the size of the post however, I am including a URL here to Google Docs where the content of the post is: http://goo.gl/L6RrJF Sorry for the confusion.

zachrose 12y ago
I find that the best way to avoid these sorts of problems is to not allow unpaid work to stack up. Get into the shortest loops that your client can agree to, collect money regularly, and be prepared to stop work if not paid. I think there's a joelonsoftware thing about inventory being bad, whether it's user stories, bugs, pull requests or anything else. Financial debt is no different. (Sorry, I know I'm not answering the idea about a BBB-style registry.)
- datashovel 12y ago
  Thanks for the feedback. I am not always good about getting bills out on time, only because I've been treated well by clients. Fool me once, shame on you... This was a very unique situation in the sense that my client's client apparently dropped the project before any payments were over due. At least that's how the information was disclosed to me. My hope is they were honest about this when explaining themselves.
  - zachrose 12y ago
    Yeah. That situation might not be as unique as you think, though. Projects get cancelled all the time, but that's orthogonal to getting paid for things you've done. With any new client, I'm not totally relaxed until I've been paid that first time. To mitigate that stress, I take a deep breath and negotiate for smaller checks, earlier and more frequently. This way even the clients who flake out don't do as much damage.
    - datashovel 12y ago
      Good point. I luckily didn't come away completely empty handed. So far I've received probably a little more than 50% billed. Even still, a company's inability to pay that amount owed is pretty "bottom of the barrel" if you ask me. My hunch is they'll be out of business before they're able to finish paying. Which may be a good thing.

2 points by datashovel 12y ago

zachrose 12y ago

I find that the best way to avoid these sorts of problems is to not allow unpaid work to stack up. Get into the shortest loops that your client can agree to, collect money regularly, and be prepared to stop work if not paid. I think there's a joelonsoftware thing about inventory being bad, whether it's user stories, bugs, pull requests or anything else. Financial debt is no different. (Sorry, I know I'm not answering the idea about a BBB-style registry.)

datashovel 12y ago
Thanks for the feedback. I am not always good about getting bills out on time, only because I've been treated well by clients. Fool me once, shame on you... This was a very unique situation in the sense that my client's client apparently dropped the project before any payments were over due. At least that's how the information was disclosed to me. My hope is they were honest about this when explaining themselves.
- zachrose 12y ago
  Yeah. That situation might not be as unique as you think, though. Projects get cancelled all the time, but that's orthogonal to getting paid for things you've done. With any new client, I'm not totally relaxed until I've been paid that first time. To mitigate that stress, I take a deep breath and negotiate for smaller checks, earlier and more frequently. This way even the clients who flake out don't do as much damage.
  - datashovel 12y ago
    Good point. I luckily didn't come away completely empty handed. So far I've received probably a little more than 50% billed. Even still, a company's inability to pay that amount owed is pretty "bottom of the barrel" if you ask me. My hunch is they'll be out of business before they're able to finish paying. Which may be a good thing.