Web development - getting paid

[JoyDivision]

What is the normal way of doing this? Say I got a £1000 contract do I start work without any payment?

How long can it take to get paid from after the job is complete?

[annethedonn]

Could be best to take a deposit. Usually within 30 days, but it depends on your terms of business.

[DuaneJackson]

we usually charge about 40% upfron and the rest becomes due within 30 days of completion of the project. We also say that if teh completion of the project is delayed by teh client then the final payment becomes due x days after the estimated completion date.

[Dread]

Personally i only ask for an upfront % if its over a certain price bracket (this varies on whether its a new client or an existing one). If its a very large quote then i would section up the job and do a section at a time, not starting on the next section until the last one has been paid for, this usually keeps thier payments prompt.

Cheers

[Enigma121]

Our general policy is 25% up front, prior to commencement - bitter experience has shown there are too many time wasters out their not to do this.

Consider more stage payments if you are talking sizable projects to make sure you can meet your obligations comfortably.

On completion, your terms of sale should state how long customers have to pay an invoice.

[mrbusiness999]

We also charge 40% up front, we have had quite a few clients do runners, it's just lucky that we have had the 40% in those cases.

[Richard Conyard]

We offer dependent on the size of the project different percentage breakdowns of project cost.

Normally they fall into the 3 or 5 payment scheme. By they work roughly like this:
% on start of development
%'s through the project duration based on key identifiable milestone targets and sign off
% 30 days after go live

[Belladonna]

Hi - my other business is a web marketing business and I often project manage for the web developers that I use. Similarly to Richard we always charge a 40% deposit and then dependant on the size of the project there may be a further interim payment paid once pre-determined milestones have been reached and signed off. The final payment is paid prior to the site going live though.

In our experience the most annoying thing is the client not providing us with all the content which has meant that projects have sometimes ground to a halt. So, we are now very strict about getting the content prior to starting the project.

Hope that helps! Good Luck!

[Astaroth]

When I did my ASP development for people I would charge 35% upfront, 25% on sign off of the design/ template and remainder on completion.

There is no right or wrong answer - having a deposit though does remove time wasters and reduces the no pays.

I am not as keen on having mid flow payments as many times it caused significant delays which prevented me (as a sole trader) being able to look for/ take on other projects without jepodising the time frame I had agreed to deliver phase 2 of the project in.