Comment by skowmunk | Hacker News Reader

Comment by skowmunk | Hacker News Reader

Had a gut feeling that asking an advance is a "better" practice, in generally making an impression that one is a professional. This article does a great job in making that "why" crystal clear.

But then, there are always exceptions, I have a contractor and his team working for me, for almost 10 months. We started off with 0% advance and still work that way, with the 32nd phase being done right now. It has been a great partnership - he has been very professional. It wasn't that his readiness to agree to 0% advance was the only reason I hired him. I interviewed him for a few hours spread over a few days to get to know him, make sure that he was professional and is what he says he is.

On my part, I also used to take specific measures to ensure that he didn't feel too exposed in his recievables from me. I used to break up bigger features into smaller phases and if any phase got stuck due to technical obstacles, used to schedule smaller payments while stil pegging the final payment with the completion of the phase. I'd rather he focus on getting the work done than worry about getting his payment on time.

I hate you.

You've had him working for you for 10 months without payment. People have to eat, and unless you've done some deal with him (equity?) this is a clear path to ripping him off.

Saying he doesn't have to worry about payment on time is one thing, but he has to worry about all his expenses. And the longer he works on this without payment the less likely he is to get paid.

Why is he working for free(at the moment)?

I think each one of the 32 phases was payed on finish. Otherwise it would be really shocking.

There may be a misunderstanding here - I got the distinct impression that the commenter (skowmunk) pays early and often for interim deliverables, just not up front.

:):)

Hey buddy, your feelings of right and wrong impress me, because I think its very important to have that. But you would have impressed me more if you had read the post in its entirity, before making a statement such as "I hate you".

No hard feelings, i have done that too, we all have growing up to do.

I pay after the close of each phase. For larger phases, I usually break it into 70% after completion of the phase on the testing server, and the rest after completiong on the live server.

When a phase takes too long becuase of some technical problems, i make sure that I pay amounts in between so that he doesn't start worrying about the payments and he doesn't get stretched too thin financially. I still peg a major chunk in such cases to the completion, 50 - 30% of the phase amount, so that his motivation stays high for solving the problems.

It has worked very well, so far. He even has made some really great suggestions on his own, which I value very much. And I usually give bonuses for such good suggestions with the phase payment.

If you want to ensure others are fair to you, you have to ensure that you are fair to them.

Too bad, he couldn't join me full time even after an offer that was good in his own words. I was planning on giving him ESOPs later along with my other employees(didn't tell him at that though).

Sorry my post was made in haste(I was running out the door), I thought you hadn't paid in 10 months.

No probs, happens.

I hope you will be able to sell the site for which you worked and didn't get payment.

I don't know what your state is now. But things change, so persevere.

There was a time after completing my MS, i used to think 10 times before buying a $1 burger, had to mop floors and clean restrooms. But now my state is far from that. As they say, "This too shall pass".

Anyway, adios and good luck.

I often prefer to take 0% advance if I'm busy, in exchange for more flexibility on the deadline.

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