Comments on: Getting paid http://anthillonline.com/getting-paid/ Business help for entrepreneurs, startups and small business owners in Australia | Business > Innovation > Technology > Entrepreneurship - Anthill Magazine: It's Where Ideas and Business Meet. Sat, 26 May 2012 02:35:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.1 By: Get payments http://anthillonline.com/getting-paid/#comment-51115 Get payments Thu, 20 Jan 2011 19:00:00 +0000 http://anthillonline.com/?p=8506#comment-51115 For large contracts this is problem keeps occurring more and more. For small projects I've changed the way I do business. I either get paid 100% upfront or don't take the project. In these cases fighting for my money costs more than what I'm receiving. It's a golden age for lawyers as companies keep refusing to pay their vendors and contractors. For large contracts this is problem keeps occurring more and more. For small projects I’ve changed the way I do business. I either get paid 100% upfront or don’t take the project. In these cases fighting for my money costs more than what I’m receiving. It’s a golden age for lawyers as companies keep refusing to pay their vendors and contractors.

]]> By: Andrew Young http://anthillonline.com/getting-paid/#comment-4713 Andrew Young Tue, 12 May 2009 00:28:02 +0000 http://anthillonline.com/?p=8506#comment-4713 Adrian ... same happened to a custom manufacturing client last week and cost them $100k. Scope creep is a real problem and we all need to be vigilant when ANY specifications/outcomes are changed to and original agreement. Get the client to sign off on ANY variation they request, before work continues with that variation and ensure it contains the changed time frame and additional costs. Adrian … same happened to a custom manufacturing client last week and cost them $100k.

Scope creep is a real problem and we all need to be vigilant when ANY specifications/outcomes are changed to and original agreement.

Get the client to sign off on ANY variation they request, before work continues with that variation and ensure it contains the changed time frame and additional costs.

]]> By: Adrian Bold http://anthillonline.com/getting-paid/#comment-4711 Adrian Bold Tue, 12 May 2009 00:13:53 +0000 http://anthillonline.com/?p=8506#comment-4711 These points are all valid, and we adhere to all of them; deposits, timely reminders, etc. However; We reached a point with a particular client where we had no choice but to down tools. All in all, this ended the relationship and we have remain chronically short of cash since. Operating in the multimedia space, the project scope had expanded from 1 month to 3 months, basically fulltime scope-creep; the client was constantly making changes, going back on their previous changes, etc, even 'sitting' in with our development staff so they could make changes/decisions on the fly. (this held up other scheduled projects) All the while i had warned of the cost-blowout to the project manager, who was reasonable to deal with, and this seemed ok. Most clients we've dealt with would understand/expect, even ask, about costing updates and happily pay for the extra services/conveniences we've offered. This time, we assumed wrong. When this was tallied and highlighted to the client ceo, a few days prior to final delivery, he blew his top and refused to pay any extra than the original quote. We stated the facts clearly and said we simply could not afford to keep working if the balance of the original quote was all we were to recieve. He threatened to cancel the project, and we reminded him of our cancellation fee policy. He did anyway, and then threatened to sue us for not completing the project! All of this is in writing and when we sought legal advice their legal defence was packed full of lies about missed deadlines, not completing the work, contradicting facts & lies, etc. Our advice was to pursue litigation however this will cost us upfront, with the risk that their lame legal defence may actually win and we're stuck with their legal costs too. To date we only recieved the deposit and part payment, (less than half of the original quote) and, according to our timelogs we're owed about 3 times the original amount. My advice is if scopecreep is aplicable to you, communication regarding cost is paramount, never assume anything. Just as the client may want an update on progress, so too can you highlight any cost amendments. Our quotes clearly state terms & conditions regarding this now, although i can't quantify if this has cost us new business. These points are all valid, and we adhere to all of them; deposits, timely reminders, etc. However;
We reached a point with a particular client where we had no choice but to down tools. All in all, this ended the relationship and we have remain chronically short of cash since.

Operating in the multimedia space, the project scope had expanded from 1 month to 3 months, basically fulltime scope-creep; the client was constantly making changes, going back on their previous changes, etc, even ‘sitting’ in with our development staff so they could make changes/decisions on the fly. (this held up other scheduled projects)

All the while i had warned of the cost-blowout to the project manager, who was reasonable to deal with, and this seemed ok. Most clients we’ve dealt with would understand/expect, even ask, about costing updates and happily pay for the extra services/conveniences we’ve offered. This time, we assumed wrong.

When this was tallied and highlighted to the client ceo, a few days prior to final delivery, he blew his top and refused to pay any extra than the original quote.
We stated the facts clearly and said we simply could not afford to keep working if the balance of the original quote was all we were to recieve. He threatened to cancel the project, and we reminded him of our cancellation fee policy. He did anyway, and then threatened to sue us for not completing the project!

All of this is in writing and when we sought legal advice their legal defence was packed full of lies about missed deadlines, not completing the work, contradicting facts & lies, etc. Our advice was to pursue litigation however this will cost us upfront, with the risk that their lame legal defence may actually win and we’re stuck with their legal costs too.

To date we only recieved the deposit and part payment, (less than half of the original quote) and, according to our timelogs we’re owed about 3 times the original amount.

My advice is if scopecreep is aplicable to you, communication regarding cost is paramount, never assume anything. Just as the client may want an update on progress, so too can you highlight any cost amendments. Our quotes clearly state terms & conditions regarding this now, although i can’t quantify if this has cost us new business.

]]> By: Andrew Young http://anthillonline.com/getting-paid/#comment-4651 Andrew Young Mon, 11 May 2009 05:56:16 +0000 http://anthillonline.com/?p=8506#comment-4651 One critical things to remove from invoices is the 30/60/90 day outstanding information What this states clearly is that you are prepared to accept payment terms to 90+ days One critical things to remove from invoices is the 30/60/90 day outstanding information

What this states clearly is that you are prepared to accept payment terms to 90+ days

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