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Caporegime
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OK, just giving you a potential out from providing an (assumed) professional opinion based on a post on the internet of which you have no prior understanding. Carry on.
Contracted developer demands obscene hours payment
- Thread starter kitkat9933
- Start date
If you decide to pay the £2000 then I'd be careful how you word a letter first asking them to confirm their acceptance of the said offer as full and final settlement and in some way word it that the offer is not being made as any admission of being payable but rather a good will gesture due to the absence of any approved time sheets for the period quoted in your request for payment. And some blah blah about the product not being finished and exhibiting bugs and whether you actually want the source code first before releasing the stated payment.
So he's either a lawyer or someone who uses the word "literally" in all the wrong ways.
Caporegime
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I'll take option B please, Bob, for $100. No professional person of any standing uses those words in that regard.So he's either a lawyer or someone who uses the word "literally" in all the wrong ways.
Associate
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the OP can either take the information I have provided, or he can choose not to.
Just as you can surmise anything you want.
Just as you can surmise anything you want.
Caporegime
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The point is that we don't have to surmise because of the words you chose to use. Does it really matter? Probably not. Is it good form? Certainly not. And if you were in a position to use that phrase in any meaningful way, you would know both of these things.
We dont have to, but we can! I'm in the middle of surmising about Thecaferacer being an Ally McBeal-esque lawyer
It's a great episode going on. I can trust you the full details if you'd like?Actually, just realised who I'm talking to. No need to even ask, you're definitely the sort who wants to know all about it. I'm writing the email to you now.
£8.50 an hour?!
I charge £120 an hour and that's not even coding, it's pure configuration!
Caporegime
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Films I would watch = this one.We dont have to, but we can! I'm in the middle of surmising about Thecaferacer being an Ally McBeal-esque lawyer
Actually, just realised who I'm talking to. No need to even ask, you're definitely the sort who wants to know all about it. I'm writing the email to you now.
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Seems my business partner cba with the hassle and is just going to pay it.
to me it was a matter of principal. Lesson learnt don’t mix friends with business... oh well got some new toys today that make the day ok..
to me it was a matter of principal. Lesson learnt don’t mix friends with business... oh well got some new toys today that make the day ok..
I think next time you want to be a bit clearer re: the deliverables and get it handed over in stages etc... with clear acceptance tests etc...
I think in a case like this a consultation with a solicitor would have been worthwhile.
Also paying peanuts with some vague promise of equity is a bit of a naff way of paying for this in the first place. You’re unlikely to get someone competent - unless you’re perhaps going to outsource overseas/remotely and are careful about what you’re getting.
I don’t think you should have been in a position where you’re several weeks in (I mean how long, calendar wise, did the 400 hours take to accumulate?) and only then discovering he’s a sack of **** and can’t deliver.
Surely you’d want weekly updates on what has been done and actually review it yourself etc... get him to check in the code and have solved certain tasks and demonstrated the unit tests pass for those stages each week.
I think in a case like this a consultation with a solicitor would have been worthwhile.
Also paying peanuts with some vague promise of equity is a bit of a naff way of paying for this in the first place. You’re unlikely to get someone competent - unless you’re perhaps going to outsource overseas/remotely and are careful about what you’re getting.
I don’t think you should have been in a position where you’re several weeks in (I mean how long, calendar wise, did the 400 hours take to accumulate?) and only then discovering he’s a sack of **** and can’t deliver.
Surely you’d want weekly updates on what has been done and actually review it yourself etc... get him to check in the code and have solved certain tasks and demonstrated the unit tests pass for those stages each week.
Not really great that you were paying your mate just a little over minimum wage to develop an App for you to profit on.
maybe his mate should have asked for more, then?
and give it seems the mate is a **** programmer who couldn't do what was asked, I wouldn't pay him anything, never mind minimum wage.
I've trimmed the chaff from your OP and replied below:
No. It's never too late to raise a dispute. Even if you've already paid them. Expect a long wait and a visit to the small claims court, if it goes that far.
No. It's never too late to raise a dispute. Even if you've already paid them. Expect a long wait and a visit to the small claims court, if it goes that far.
That will be a difficult case with no clear deliverables, scope, output, agreed hours etc.
You say the lesson learned is not to mix friends and business, I don't think that's the case. Learn how to do business.
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Well he wanted 33% equity in addition, so it's a balance.
33% equity in something worth nothing isn't really all that relevant anymore tbh...
I'd just start over tbh... and if you're going to bring in someone else then have some weekly meetings, get a bit more oversight re: what they're doing/what they're expecting to do and how they're progressing... I mean how can you let someone you're apparently paying by the hour rack up 400+ hours (presumably over several weeks) without knowing what they did at a more granular level?
You really need clear specs, deliverables, some acceptance tests etc... break the project down into stages and be prepared to change course.
I think perhaps you should go read up on some development methodologies. I've never been overly fussy about being overly ridging in adhering to one (some people can be super anal/inflexible with these things) but a lot of the principles behind them are pretty sound (so pick one that works for you, any would be better than your previous approach) because you've gone way too far into the "back of a fag packet" methodology.
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Just to add, we have the project specifications, deliverables, tests etc on a shared project board. But the bit we didn't have was the agreed payment terms etc with the contractor as it was mates rates or how we would log his hours.
Well it isn't much good if you wait until the end and then get a nasty surprise, much better to get things checked in weekly at least and tested etc... you seem to have a situation where none of it really works and he's holding the code to ransom.
Not read this all. But, no contract, no invoice, no working product.
Stop all communication and move on with your life. He hasn't got a single inch of ground to stand on legally. Probably some texts/calls/emails, but even then, he didn't deliver a completed product as discussed.
You're fine, I'd just ignore it.
Stop all communication and move on with your life. He hasn't got a single inch of ground to stand on legally. Probably some texts/calls/emails, but even then, he didn't deliver a completed product as discussed.
You're fine, I'd just ignore it.