Deadline Creep

[dean_dmoo]

You can add a provision that once your offer has been accepted and booked in to your schedule any cancellation of the job (or less images) will be charged 50% of the initial offer. I don't have it in my contracts, yet, but it's getting to a point where I have to turn down work because I am booked for another job but I haven't got a back-up if that job gets cancelled. Fortunately I have good contacts with nearly all my clients so they are open and let me know if this stuff is going on so I can keep it in mind for offer potential jobs.

[andybot_cg]

You can add a provision that once your offer has been accepted and booked in to your schedule any cancellation of the job (or less images) will be charged 50% of the initial offer.

Unless you have a deposit, that's kinda meaningless. Also, definitely a bridge-burner if you intend to have repeat clients.

[glorybound]

definitely a bridge-burner if you intend to have repeat clients.

I think that is key in all of this. Do I fuss over a technicality with what could be 1/2 days worth of work? Do you point to the contract and wave the fee?

[andybot_cg]

I think it's a bit like the 3 options for a contractor, of which you can only have 2: Quality, Price, or Schedule. I find people are most willing to push the schedule part. It sounds like you keep laboring under false deadline pretenses from your clients. I say let that compulsion go. If you can't get to something right away, that's fine. That's why repeat clients are good, you can build a relationship where you can find out what is critical and what is not.

[joconnell]

This might be semi relevant - it's a free book on pricing for small businesses and how to present your costs to clients, it's a short read with some good ideas in there!

https://www.freshbooks.com/assets/ot...me-Barrier.pdf

[dean_dmoo]

Unless you have a deposit, that's kinda meaningless. Also, definitely a bridge-burner if you intend to have repeat clients.

Not really, you have a signed contract and have reserved the time for their project. Why should you then lose money because they change their mind and you cant schedule work to fill the gap. Agree with the bridgeburner part though. But reading bobby's posts some additional pressure might help.

This was one of the provisions in the contract of a international high end visualisation firm that we recently had working for us. I think dbox also mentioned something like this in a recent interview on cgarchitect.

[glorybound]

I have a burn clause and an act of God clause, both I have never had to enforce. I am a small business, so if I kick I don't want to leave any burden on my family, which is why I have the act of God clause.

[andybot_cg]

Not really, you have a signed contract and have reserved the time for their project. Why should you then lose money because they change their mind and you cant schedule work to fill the gap.

True - with a contract and a large scale project where you're shuffling multiple people's schedules that makes perfect sense. I was speaking to the scale of a sole freelancer. My typical project start is that I send a budget and an estimated timeframe by email, that's it. If it's a new client, or it's a larger project, I request a deposit. The most contractual I get is a 1 page proposal outlining budget, scope, and ownership of images & model.