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7af9e99a
Community Member

Project on hold due to project underestimation

Hi All,

I have contracted a software development company to do an ecommerce platform development project.
These are the sequences of events ;
1. I had selected a fixed term contract for a mutually agreed fixed amount in June 2020
2. I had also uploaded the documentation which outlined the scope of the project. Though this wasnt in detail it was sufficent to understand.
3.  We agreed on 3 milestone payments and proceeded with the development of the project

4. As of date the project is 75% completed with 70% of 2 milestone payments paid. 
5. The contracted company now comes back to, and say holdon we have now do a lot of additional work ,
     we require an additional payment to proceed to complete your project, as the remaining work 
     requires more effort from our development team.

My problem now is that I am now stuck in the middle of the project, which the development team has stopped work as they want more funds, and I donot see any reason why I will need to pay additionally for underestimation of the project.

I would appreciate anyone in the community with some guidance as how I should be approaching  this 
to remove this deadlock between myself & the contracted company. As end of the day I require the project to complete smoothly.
Appreciate your time

Subhani Lafir 

5 REPLIES 5
g_vasilevski
Retired Team Member
Retired Team Member

Hi Mohamed,

 

I`m sorry to hear about the bad experience you had. Our team will reach out to you via ticket as soon as possible and will assist you further. Thank you.

~ Goran
Upwork
feed_my_eyes
Community Member

Personally, if I ever underestimate on a fixed price contract, I honour the price anyway and consider it to be my own fault for bidding incorrectly. I would only request additional payments if the scope changes or if the client asks for excessive revisions. (That should be how all fixed price contracts work, otherwise what's the point of agreeing a price in the first place?) If you're sure that this is not the case with your project, you can either negotiate with your freelancer or fire them and continue the project with someone else. If the project is 75 percent complete and 70 percent paid, it sounds like you don't stand to lose out? But try to reason with them first. Most freelancers don't want to risk having an unhappy client, so it could be that they're just testing the water.

Many thanks Christine for your insight into the situation. No scope has changed , however the contractor 
pins it down to different things such as excessive iterations made, unclear requirements and others. However my argument is that the contractor is a fully fledge ICT company , and no scope has change and should have clear any ambiguities right at project start and not say "we have exhausted our budget & time.

Anyway noted your valid points . 

Appreciated 
Subhani Lafir  

It sounds like those freelancers don't want to work on the project any more.

 

Assign the remaining work to other members of your team. If you need to add additional freelancers to your team, then do so.

 

Put your project first. The project is what matters, not who completes it.

2591126f
Community Member


Mohamed Subhani L wrote:

Hi All,

I have contracted a software development company to do an ecommerce platform development project.
These are the sequences of events ;
1. I had selected a fixed term contract for a mutually agreed fixed amount in June 2020
2. I had also uploaded the documentation which outlined the scope of the project. Though this wasnt in detail it was sufficent to understand.
3.  We agreed on 3 milestone payments and proceeded with the development of the project

4. As of date the project is 75% completed with 70% of 2 milestone payments paid. 
5. The contracted company now comes back to, and say holdon we have now do a lot of additional work ,
     we require an additional payment to proceed to complete your project, as the remaining work 
     requires more effort from our development team.

My problem now is that I am now stuck in the middle of the project, which the development team has stopped work as they want more funds, and I donot see any reason why I will need to pay additionally for underestimation of the project.

I would appreciate anyone in the community with some guidance as how I should be approaching  this 
to remove this deadlock between myself & the contracted company. As end of the day I require the project to complete smoothly.
Appreciate your time

Subhani Lafir 


The freelancer was free to discuss the job in details before accepting. I would be willing (and I do) to pay for the time they spend in discussing in details. But it is their job to estimate the time and resources they will need to employ on a particular project. They are the expert not the client.

 

If they miscalculated, they are at fault. They can't demand that someone pays for their inefficiency.

It was entirely possible that the client would not have hired them if they said about it in beginning and the client would be entitled to walk away.This is plain wrong to mislead client as to cost and then ask escalation.

 

The first thing is that you should ask them to hand over the files if you do not have them with you already.Then say them , You do not agree to raise. A bonus may be issued after work has been completed well, thought can't be promised. it is upto them to either honour their words and continue or leave.

If they leave hire someone else and get it completed.

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