Comment by ErrantX | Hacker News Reader

Comment by ErrantX | Hacker News Reader

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Hi this interests me - LLP seemed a good approach but your comments make sense. Mind if I ask some more.

Are you suggesting sole proprieterships and then have a contract between myself an him. My main issue is I want some way to tie us together (actually mostly so I have "deadlines" I have to meet) and to make sure the 50/50 agreement is protected somewhat. Im certain he wont screw me (I've known him for 3 years - he's a bit pompous and a sometimes difficult to work with but definitely not someone to take advantage at all) but I wouldnt walk in with no guarantee. :)

Thanks for thoughts on the rates - I had some nagging doubts on that side of things. The £25/hr is more from fixed prices we figured we would have for the first few jobs (which are specced out) and their budget is fairly low. But your right about underselling in the future - is it better to bill hourly (and give an initial hours estimate) or agree a fixed cost in advance do you think (Im thinking former)?

Thanks for the great feedback :)

My advice is to bill hourly whenever you can because the client won't express everything they want done initially. This is because they don't know everything they want until they have part of it. Just think about doing a job for yourself and how many times you realize how much more you need to do after part of it is finished.

I do some web design. I wouldn't pay hourly for an initial website design & implementation. If you've got a designer/developer that is incompetent (or just out of practise) then they are going to take a lot longer and so cost more. Agree a price, technical problems are the designers problem.

Admin stuff takes quite a lot of time in a small business, in my experience (3 small businesses so far). Also just doing the design implementation stuff isn't enough - you do have to get out and win the work. 50:50 sounds about right IMO.

That's assuming he is doing inital design (graphical prototype, you'll need usability input here) and preparing graphical elements for the coded pages; as well as the up front promotion and sales.

Kinda depends on what sort of sites you're doing. A heavy app with lots of DB design or lots of scripting would need more weighting towards you. A simple graphical "this is us" site the weight is more towards him (and you're probably better outsourcing the coding of that sort of thing anyway).

FWIW

I suppose that when you set up the agreement with the client, you agree a roadmap with certain milestones for the various stages of the project. These are both yours and your partners deadlines.

There IS no guarantee. Simple as that. Your guarantee is that you (and him - this also goes for the client) get paid often enough, that if its turns sour for whatever reason, and you can't get the money, you can walk away. This is also a good motivation to follow an agile methodology, where you deliver value early and often.

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