How to feelance dev work question

[Dev101]

Ok I do some custom programming on the side. Now I have mostly only done my stuff through some freelance websites that allow you to bid on projects, I didn't want to violate any TOS so i left them off for now. But basically the sites will hold money in escrow while project is completed and such. So for me that has always been good cause I considered that pretty safe.

Well now I am branching out from that and I am getting emailed directly with request for estimates. Because I am coming across people that want me to program first then get paid once it is delivered.. I usually like to get a little upfront to start so that I can say it secures my time and shows me that you are committed as well to the project. So how do you other freelancers handle the payments of your projects? I wanted to see what others were doing....

Here is what I am thinking so far for mine...

1. Require a key code and if one is not entered after so many days after install date it disables.

So I really just wanted to open it up to the other programmers to see what they have done for there projects.

Thanks for the advice....:bowdown:

 

[transient]

i always work with people in my area so i can actually go and meet with them at their office locations. i ALWAYS email them a contract and don't start working until i receive it signed by hand. these two things make me feel secure in knowing that i will get paid.

it's a lil different working with someone you've never met in person, though. my suggestion is to simply ask for half in advance. most people will do it, so long as it's not a too large a sum of money.

 

[erect]

get 25% - 50% in advance depending on if you think the site has any value to yourself (either resell or personal site) in case they don't pay.

Develop the code on your server in a subdomain of an existing domain of yours.

Once complete and the payment has been made in full, transfer it to their server. Some tweaking might be needed due to server specs but it's not like starting over on the project, just troubleshooting.

 

[transient]

erect has a good point, the whole having value to you thing.
though, in my experience, it is definitely not so simple to just "tweak" something for someone else's server, especially if they are running a diff OS, diff web serv, using a template engine, etc. the whole integration process is actually what takes a lot longer than the actual development of the application.

btw, erect did you make that avatar? cock n balls never looked so rad!