Why Are Fixed Rate Jobs Made So Difficult?

[Iftikhar I]

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@Patrick P wrote:

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@Iftikhar I wrote:

I recently get hired on hourly job but i hardly work on hourly job so I ask the client if he can make a fixed price job but he said he still can  send payment as milestone or bonus so there is no need to do another contract and I get paid without adding hours.

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Did not know this was possible. Are these milestones still pre-funded through escrow?

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No but Before I deliver the final job the client deposite the advance payment so I was not worried to send the final work.

The points you have mensioned about thats the reason I dont work hourly as I am doing many other things at a time working and replying other clients as well etc

[Patrick P]

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@Iftikhar I wrote:

No but Before I deliver the final job the client deposite the advane payment so I was not worried to send the final work.

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 Yeah, I suspected that might be the case. Don't know how I feel about that. I usually do a 20%/40%/40% breakdown for outline/first draft/final draft on most projects, and I'm not super-cool with the idea that a client could pay 20% for my outline, then leave me in the wind for the last 80% if they like what I've done on the first draft. I'd have absolutely no recourse if that were to happen.

[Sandra T]

@Iftikhar,

but isn't that dangerous of becoming "messy" in case of a disagreement, conflict of even dispute? It sounds like it will definitely be harder to prove which work was for what payment, what was agreed beforehand, etc. That's what the whole milestone thing is good for (besides escrow funding), they clearly define x amount of work for y amount of $.

[Iftikhar I]

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@Sandra T wrote:

@Iftikhar,

but isn't that dangerous of becoming "messy" in case of a disagreement, conflict of even dispute? It sounds like it will definitely be harder to prove which work was for what payment, what was agreed beforehand, etc. That's what the whole milestone thing is good for (besides escrow funding), they clearly define x amount of work for y amount of $.

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Yes may be you are right but the client was new and we have everything in written what should I have to deliver with X amount of $$

I have requested the client if i can add manual hours but before I add the client keep the deposite so I dont have any choice and should have to go with it.

But next it will be good if I add manual hours instead of milestone like this.sometime we have to trust each other to have long term relationships.

If its not good to have payment like this so why there is an option for it.

[Setu M]

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@Iftikhar I wrote:

If its not good to have payment like this so why there is an option for it.

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 "Even on hourly jobs, you may occasionally want to pay your freelancer for something that’s not on the weekly hourly invoice. For example, it could be a performance bonus, reimbursement for expenses, milestone completed, or compensation for time over the freelancer’s weekly limit."

https://support.upwork.com/entries/23138581-How-do-I-make-a-bonus-milestone-or-expense-reimbursement...

[Patrick P]

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@Krisztina U wrote:

Converting an hourly job to a fixed price one works exactly the same way as converting a fixed price one to hourly does (unless there's a beta test going on that I am not a part of). In short, both contract type changes require a new contract.

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https://support.upwork.com/entries/23136127-How-do-I-switch-a-fixed-price-contract-to-hourly-

"The Basics

It's easy to switch any active fixed-price contract to an hourly contract..."

https://support.upwork.com/entries/23116842-How-do-I-switch-an-hourly-contract-to-fixed-price- 

"The Basics

It is not possible to convert a contract from hourly to fixed-price..."

[Setu M]

As Sandra indicated, it is not the best practice to use milestone payments on hourly contracts for too many reasons. How will the system view your account when you are consistently getting paid and not logging time. I could list many more potential problems.

This should be a one off thing, like the documentation states. Not a practice.

[Nichola L]

I asked my client to change to fixed-rate before I hit the accept button. There was no new job offer and mine were definitely milestones.

[Santiago G]

I'm also not a big fan of hourly rate jobs and that time tracker. I've been skipping them outright. Yes, even the ones that either catch my interest in part or completely.

I know that the time tracker has problems. I've seen the posts. So I'd rather just skip it all together. I also didn't want/need more things to download and install. But as of yet, I never had the time tracker installed. Not once.

My first job was on a hourly rate. I added the time manually. No big deal. Still never used the time tracker. After that first job, I see it as fixed price offers are easier to deal with (for me anyway), So there was never any need for me to have/use the time tracker.

I'm usually pretty quick to complete the job(s) anyway. The time tracker most likely would have caused a problem in that aspect. We pick a price during the interview and stick with it. If/when the time tracker tells the client that I completed work in like 10 mins (<< example only), how bad is the client going to feel about having to pay more based on the chosen price? I'm willing to bet.... VERY!!

If the client chooses to give me a bonus for a fixed price job, with or without telling me, that's ok too!! Oddly enough, they never told yet. It just showed up and repeatedly caused confusion for me!! Took me a while but I figured it out!! hehehehehe I'm sitting around seeing the extra money showing up....... "Huh?? What the what??? Where'd that come from? Is there something else the client wanted??". << Things like that happened to me!!

The other side to this is that not everyone can do/say the same things. Some do need it. So those that need it are also stuck with and bugs/problems associated with the time tracker. The only upside is that the bug/problems are not always effecting everyone using the time tracker.

[Susanne D]

Same here. I have tried working with the time tracker, but I hate it - same reasons some others stated above. Writing and translation are no work to be done with time ticking and the client peeping at the screenshots. I wonder why anybody would want to have this done on an hourly basis? For the client it is much better to know exactly what the price will be at the end and not to wonder if the freelancer really stuck all the time to this work while the tracker was running.