Typical Client
I got another offer of web development contract work from someone who can't afford to pay more than what kids make mowing lawns or babysitting. I'm not talking about a website, I'm talking about a complete web application. This client wants Jen and I to remake one of the most popular websites in the world, but with one change.
Few people realize how much work goes into programming and design on a web application. If we were really going to go full-out and make a minimum-feature-set clone of that site, and add that one feature they want, it would take the two of us at least a year of full-time work, worth tens of thousands of dollars. With their budget constraints, we are considering proposing a modified Content Management System to them which we can whip out in a month, worth a couple of thousand dollars.
They can mostly pay us with car repairs. They run an auto repair shop. I guess the barter system is making inroads on U.S. currency in this region.
Normally in composing a contract, I concern myself with how to determine unambiguously when the job is done. Otherwise a client will keep asking for changes, for free, forever. Barter now introduces the inverse problem: how to compose the contract to set a certain quantity or type of auto repairs, how to set a granular value on that which could accommodate any type of car emergency we might have, and to be able to know precisely when their contractual obligations are resolved.
Remember this awesome video and this comedy sendup about vendors and clients?
Comments
albogdan on Mar. 11, 2010 11:59 PM
Not too long ago I told a client that I'd be working for free for the budget they allocated since their payment would barely cover my costs. Their response? They thought it was great that I'd work for free like that. (No, I didn't do the job.)
mogwar on Mar. 12, 2010 3:05 AM
I used to barter tax services for hair care. Because we wanted to make sure we were also correctly reporting the income (on both sides) to the IRS, we just converted everything directly into cash. My firm charged her the same rates as our other clients, and she charged me the same as her other customers, and we just simply tracked both amounts as they offset. This arrangement worked for many years. Now, tax services are worth more than hair cuts, so it meant that for a couple of years after my firm shut down, I still got free haircuts. But I don't know that I'd want to do that with every client. I don't trust most of them that much.
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