Freelancers: how many hours do you tend to spend on a contract before it's signed?
Posted by disgr4ce@reddit | ExperiencedDevs | View on Reddit | 8 comments
I've had situations where we negotiated an agreement in like a day, but on many other occasions it's dragged on for weeks or even months, and with my current soon-to-be-client, we've gone through so many hours of pre-signing discussion I'm starting to wonder if the eventual fee is even going to be worth it, lol.
OK, that's hyperbole. But it makes me curious if others have had this experience. I mean, I've been freelancing for many (many) years, so I know how it goes, but sometimes—jfc!
ProgrammerPoe@reddit
less than 2-3 hours, if I haven't signed anything by then its time to move on
reboog711@reddit
Anywhere from 20 to 200. Honestly, no rhyme or reason to it.
Warm Body replacement / hourly contracts are a ton easier to negotiate than fixed fee project bids. But, it all depends on the client.
Adept_Carpet@reddit
I could never do fixed fee bids. Just felt too risky. What I did as an alternative for clients really obsessed with that concept was to put in caps on invoicing gated by milestones.
So, for instance, "you won't be charged more than $X until you agree this milestone has been reached."
But if we get to $X and the milestone is 20% done, I'm asking if they want to pay 5*X to see it through or if they want to end the contract. And they would have had the power to do that anyway, so it doesn't change anything.
reboog711@reddit
A lot of people won't do fixed fee bids. I had success with them.
Learning how to handle change management is a bit part of the profitability there, even more important than managing / defining the initial scope.
disgr4ce@reddit (OP)
Yeah, that makes sense. The last couple of contracts I've worked on were project rates and self-funded by the client, so they were naturally being picky.
damnburglar@reddit
Depends on the value of the contract. I once spent 6 months of back and forth before it was signed. I’ve also had contracts drafted and signed the same day.
If the hours it’s going to take you to get the contract finalized is a significant percentage of your eventual billable hours, it might not be worth the hassle.
originalchronoguy@reddit
6 months once… lol. Fortune 100 and that whole procurement vetting thing. Was worth it in the end.
disgr4ce@reddit (OP)
Hah nice, ok, I didn't think I was the only one but it's nice to hear it.