Sam Brown

Collecting deposits or retainers before starting work is a must!

#390 16th July 2009 at 8am Link 9 Comments

FreeAgent ran a survey for freelancers that ended last month and the results are in!

FreeAgent Central presents the results of our Freelancer Report 2009: a survey into the experiences and attitudes of freelancers and small businesses in the current financial climate.

Part 1: Just the Facts, Ma’am provides overall results for each of the survey questions asked, and Part 2: Who’s Feeling the Pinch? reveals what happened when we cross-referenced how you felt about the credit crunch against your industry, how long you’d been in business, and other factors.

Astonishingly in Part 1, Graph 1.8 ‘Do you collect deposits or retainers before starting work?’ reports that over 50% of people do not collect a deposit before they start work, this really shocked me! Roan let me know that this number is in no way skewed by small business owners and that the percentage is very similar for just freelancers. Scary stuff, I hope that everyone reading this takes deposits before they start any work?

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Comments

Cory Huff 16 July 2009, 09:14 #1

Yikes!! I don’t know how freelancers can get any work done without getting paid first. Scary.

Paul Randall 16 July 2009, 13:49 #2

I have heard some stories of people being burnt by non-payers in the past. Ever since they have been asking for a deposit for work, so I wouldn’t be surprised if that figure used to be lower.

Tim Van Damme 16 July 2009, 15:37 #3

I’ve learnt my lesson the hard way, and now always charge 50% before work starts. This way, both sides are committed.

Damien Buckley 16 July 2009, 16:17 #4

I honestly can’t believe that people would be so stupid as to start work without some form of commitment. Then again, I guess if people are doing comp work to get jobs in as many cases as still occurs and people still offering full websites for under a grand I probably shouldnt be surprised…

Andy Marshall 17 July 2009, 00:53 #5

Certainly do. Only 30%, but considering increasing that for first time clients.

Matt Brett 17 July 2009, 07:27 #6

Unreal! I don’t even add people to my calendar until I’ve received 25%. The way I roll, is 25% at the time of booking, and another 25% just before the project kicks off. The remaining 50% prior to hand-off/launch. This guy isn’t getting burned!

freelance management 17 July 2009, 23:29 #7

Absolutely true!!
I agree with you.

Alex Wright 18 July 2009, 20:00 #8

It sounds bad, but I have worked without receiving a deposit in the past. I’ve only ever, and will only ever let this happen with clients I know very well and have complete faith in.

Catherine Azzarello 18 July 2009, 21:53 #9

One big bad burn was enough. Gave the guy a lot of leeway…but, hey…no pay! So I pulled his site. Haven’t heard a word.

Standard procedure these days…50% with signed contract to get on schedule. Balance due upon approval and before upload to client server.

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Hi, I'm the lead ui designer and a front-end developer at Foursquare, based in New York City.

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