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pushingpixels
Community Member

How long to wait for a client response?

Hi all,

I was recently hired for an hourly website redesign project. After receiving the offer, I messaged him asking for exact edits he wants and gave him instructions on how to add me as a user on his website account. 
It's been nearly two weeks and I have yet to hear back from him. I've messaged him 3 times inquiring if he still needed me for the project. 

 

I am now getting worried that it will negatively affect my JSS score, as this has happened to me in the past. 

I know Upwork won't tell us how long we can wait without making any income on a project before it will hurt us. But I'm just wondering how long I should have for him to reply. 

 

I know his website address, and I am curious if I should reach out via their contact form.

 

*I've read some similar questions in this forum and the responses said to get all the project details and info before the contract starts, but I don't feel comfortable doing so until the contract is active. 

 

Thank you.

5 REPLIES 5
prestonhunter
Community Member

I never wait for a client response.

 

I don't agree to any fixed-price milestone or contract unless I have all of the input files and instructions necessary to complete the task.

 

Then I do the task.

 

Then I click the Submit button, and get paid.

 

I don't send a message to the client. I don't wait.

 

With an hourly contract, I do NOT agree to the contract until I have enough instructions and input files sufficient to do at least ten minutes of work.

 

When I actually agree to the contract, maybe I have enough to do 10 minutes of work.

Maybe 10 hours of work.

Maybe 10 weeks of work.

Who knows...

 

I do the work, and I send it to the client / and or I send an informational update to the client.

If I have more work to do, based on the client's instructions, I do the work.

If i run out of work to do, I stop.

 

The client can ask me to do additional work, or she can answer my questions that I need answered according to her own preferences.

 

I couldn't care less whether or not the client responds to me within a 60 seconds, or the next day, or if she takes 2 months to get back to me.

 

It's her project. Not my project. So that means it is her timeline, not mine.

Thanks for your input.
I understand where you’re coming from, but I don’t feel comfortable putting in the work before the contract is awarded. Even if it’s small work, such as gathering files, organizing content, going back and forth on their needs in detail and creating an account on their site so I have access to it.

I’ve actually done that before and it fell through.

Lindsay: If you have done as much as you can do, and you have already sent messages to the client asking him for additional information, and if he has not responded... Then clearly this is not a particularly high priority for him.

 

He'll get back to you when he feels like it. There is nothing you can do. Don't hunt down contact him information for him that he hasn't given to you. That is rude.


Lindsey M wrote:
Thanks for your input.
I understand where you’re coming from, but I don’t feel comfortable putting in the work before the contract is awarded. Even if it’s small work, such as gathering files, organizing content, going back and forth on their needs in detail and creating an account on their site so I have access to it.

I’ve actually done that before and it fell through.

Lindsey, I'm not sure who you're responding to, but no one in this thread suggested that you do any work before the contract was awarded and no experienced freelancer ever would.

 

Understanding what is required to complete the job is not "putting in work." It's part of the process of determining whether to commit to the project.

Tiffany, 

Most of the work I do on Upwork isn't as easy as just getting the details of the project before the project is started. It can often require some back and forth once the project is awarded. I also typically need them to grant me access to their software or website before I can get started, which I don't see them doing until the project is awarded. 

 

This isn't really part of the original question I am asking. I was politely asking how long you'd suggest waiting to hear back from a client. 

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