Taking multiple contracts

[jamesbrown]

I wouldn't advise this if you are misleading clients into thinking you will be working for them full-time. You might or might not get away with it. If you want to do this I would be up front about the fact that you'll be working for them part time and depending on availability.

+1 Bad idea if the relationship is built on a lie and they both expect your availability at the same times. Otherwise, fill yer boots.

[BlasterBates]

I wouldn't advise this if you are misleading clients into thinking you will be working for them full-time. You might or might not get away with it. If you want to do this I would be up front about the fact that you'll be working for them part time and depending on availability.

[ladymuck]

If you do two at the same time, the practical considerations are - how do you deal with a double booking - both teams want a 9AM call, what do you do?

Also, which client do you put on your LinkedIn job history?

The answer to the second one is easy - both of course.

I think it's poor etiquette to put details of your current client on LI while you're working with them. I tend to update when I think I'm leaving and then have to decide what to do with the blurb when an 11th hour extension comes through.

[PerfectStorm]

If you do two at the same time, the practical considerations are - how do you deal with a double booking - both teams want a 9AM call, what do you do?

Also, which client do you put on your LinkedIn job history?

[jamesbrown]

Fixed price is where it's at.

Absolutely. I've never made more money than on fixed price gigs. Or lost more money, admittedly, but that was before I knew how to estimate (and draft deliverables).

[jmo21]

I've done SOW before, it's crap. Running out of budget is common, which will inevitably make you work for free to fix all these "bugs" or whatever. It has to be paid by day. I'm currently working with public sector on hard-outside gig. We don't have fixed hours and are for day delivery. Already found a macedonians dev that will help me in case i'll manage to find another one like this.

UK elite will outsource dem work to europe on the cheap and pocket the difference. Services economy woohoo

Meh. You have to know either how to estimate well, and charge the right amount, or just make up a large enough figure to cover it. Why do you think consultancies charge so much?!

ps. work for free!? Not even once!

[jmo21]

Fixed price is where it's at.

I have one main 9-5 client, 1 long term client, Client A (10 years), who I do ad-hoc fixed price work for, and have just onboarded another fixed price client this week, Client B, 6 months in the planning as it happens, based on work for Client A.

Client A, I did a year with them on a "normal" contract, and they just kept coming back to me. I got another fixed price set of jobs for another client off the back of that, Client C (they eventually took the work in-house), and this new piece is similar (though hopefully might get more longevity)

[Lance]

I've done SOW before, it's crap. Running out of budget is common, which will inevitably make you work for free to fix all these "bugs" or whatever. It has to be paid by day. I'm currently working with public sector on hard-outside gig. We don't have fixed hours and are for day delivery. Already found a macedonians dev that will help me in case i'll manage to find another one like this.

UK elite will outsource dem work to europe on the cheap and pocket the difference. Services economy woohoo

it's easier for infra projects than dev.
Although you could have a fixed-price payment milestone for delivering the code, then do bugs T&M.
But that means you're asking the client to take all the risk.
Fixed price has to involve some well known factors, and bug fixes will always be a challenge. Which is why you would do fixed price where you think of a big number and double it, then add 50%. I can't see many clients going for that though.

[GitMaster69]

IS a financial risk. Which whilst on CEST, is not actually a factor in IR35 legislation or case law.
Real businesses don't do fixed price without a lot of commercial savvy and aggressive project managers who protect their scope. If you're a one-man band who doesn't know this already, then you're not ready for it IMO.

What you gonna do when the client makes you wait 20 days for a change request?

I've done SOW before, it's crap. Running out of budget is common, which will inevitably make you work for free to fix all these "bugs" or whatever. It has to be paid by day. I'm currently working with public sector on hard-outside gig. We don't have fixed hours and are for day delivery. Already found a macedonians dev that will help me in case i'll manage to find another one like this.

UK elite will outsource dem work to europe on the cheap and pocket the difference. Services economy woohoo

[Lance]

Demonstrates financial risk...

I think in a brave new world, fixed price SOW is the way forward personally, but who knows how things wiil turn out?

IS a financial risk. Which whilst on CEST, is not actually a factor in IR35 legislation or case law.
Real businesses don't do fixed price without a lot of commercial savvy and aggressive project managers who protect their scope. If you're a one-man band who doesn't know this already, then you're not ready for it IMO.

What you gonna do when the client makes you wait 20 days for a change request?