Re: Newbie Contractor needs advice

[Kimberly <JKWilson -at- CONCENTRIC -dot- NET>]

I don't know the specifics of your situation, but I agree, certainly you
can bill for the chasing time.

I have had many contracts (sadly) where I spent a good deal of time just
waiting. I got paid for all the waiting time. I am *extremely* diligent in
logging my every effort, to show that I have legitimately been "at work"
chasing SMEs, answers or the next task in the assignment. I log the emails
sent, the phone calls made, the responses received (i.e. the false
promises), the escalation attempts made, and every follow-up. If you are
consciously putting the time in, but the client (or SME) isn't responding,
bill for it. Just make sure you document every effort. The bill might get
the boss's attention when the other attempts are not! ;)

Good luck.
Kimberly in GA

At 05:11 PM 8/17/99 -0400, you wrote:
>Hallo:
>
>Ouch.
>
>You can bill for the time spent trying to contact the company, sure. It is
a
>legitimate use of your time. Would they pay? Do you have the resources to
>make them?
>
>Have you considered returning all money paid, all materials, and cutting
>your losses, with a knowing nod to experience?
>
>Certainly, up from, you could require a retainer of 20, 40, or however-many
>hours per week. The idea being that having you waiting for work prevents
you
>from getting other contracts and the customer needs to pay you for the
hours
>you spend twiddling your thumbs if the customer fails to deliver the
>promised materials. I'd wager the SME would be on the ball if his company
>were on the financial hook. I suspect you cannot successfully negotiate
this
>after the fact, however.
>
>All the best,
>
>Sean
>sean -at- quodata -dot- com
>
>>>>-----Original Message-----
>>>>From: temoore -at- BELLSOUTH -dot- NET [mailto:temoore -at- BELLSOUTH -dot- NET]
>>>>Sent: Tuesday, August 17, 1999 4:38 PM
>
><snip>
>>>>
>>>>I arranged time in my schedule to accommodate this client,
>>>>and the SME
>>>>has not been keeping up their end of the bargain. The result
>>>>is that the
>>>>manual has been reduced to around 50 pages and I have not put in the
>>>>hours expected. I wait and wait for the SME to submit the information
>>>>needed, and I call and leave messages and email with the SME and the
>>>>Project Manager to no avail. In fact, I spent an entire day
>>>>and a half
>>>>trying to get someone to answer my phone calls and even physically
>>>>visited the office with no results. (Do I bill for that time?)
>>>>
>>>>Because it's an hourly assignment, I've lost significant $ in the
>>>>process. How do you, as contractors, protect yourself
>>>>against this? Is
>>>>it possible to require a client to agree to, say, a minimum
>>>>of 40 hours
>>>>a week for two weeks? How do you handle such situations?
>
>>
>
>
>From ??? -at- ??? Sun Jan 00 00:00:00 0000==
>
>
>
>

 From ??? -at- ??? Sun Jan 00 00:00:00 0000=