juni_83

I have a contract with this person and I have to design and develop a website. The problem is that we're still at the step where I'm designing the main page. Why? Because he keeps changing his mind and every day he wants me to change something. This has been going on for the past 3 weeks and I'm supposed to finish the website in another 3 weeks. At this rate, I'll never be done.
What I would like to know is what I should do. I've already told him that if we keep going like this, it will take a lot longer to finish, but on the other hand I don't want to waste any more of my time. I mean, I don't want to be working on a website 2 months when I could have been done in 1.
What should I do?

root

has the guy already paid you? if so, you are in a better position. if not, i would have him give you partial payment from him and let him know that if he keeps making changes that you will have to start charging more for his changes. good luck.

Heather

Juni, I feel your pain. My first question to you is: Are there any specific clauses in the contract that make it difficult for you to renegotiate? If there was no budget or time constraint put on the job then from a legal standpoint you may be stuck.

You could try politely explaining to your client that you have other projects and it would be helpful if he would finalize at least the basic design so that you can both move forward. I mean, I assume that the design delay is hindering him as well? Let him know that at this point if the constant changes drag on then you will have to renegotiate your rate or turn the project over to someone with more time to make daily changes.

sinamin

Is he actually making design changes or just changing the order of things on the page. I am not sure what the contract says but maybe if he is changing the design continually, you might be able to do this:

Build three designs similar to his specs, then let him know that he should choose the one that best suits his needs.

In fact maybe you could modify your future contracts to include this point so you are not stuck in the same position again. The sad reality is some people will carry on the service forever if you don't corral them. This forces them to make a decision and move on. A lot of people also think that because they are paying you, time is unlimited and some will abuse your time.

juni_83

Thank you guys for your input.

Sinamin, he is actually making design changes. He agrees with the buttons that I put in and after a couple of days he tells me he want them to look completly different. Or he keeps adding side menues or makes me change the entire top banner 9again, after he told me a few days ago that he liked it).
I will make sure and put something in my contract to protect me against these kinds of things.

Now he just told me that he doesn't agree with this current design entirely (after I spent 3 weeks making changes for him) and maybe he would want to come back to another design of mine that he rejected completly before.

I think I will just suggest him a cancelation of the contract because at the rate this whole thing is going, it will take forever to finish.

juni_83

To answer another question for heather, there are time limitation on the contract. I told him that I estimate that the whole thing will be finished in a month and a half and a month has already past and he did not yet approve the design of the main page.
I let him know before that he should make up his mind on how he wants his first page to look like because at this rate i will not be able to finish it in the required time.
In the contract though it is stated that the finished date is not a fixed date and it might take longer or sooner to finish the job.

SageMother

If he hasn't paid at least half or a deposit then you might need to cut him loose. I could be very wrong here, but when I have run into people like this one, they have always found a way to keep your work but not pay you. There is always something wrong that they feel is critical enough to at least pay you less, assuming they don't refuse to pay you anything.

I certainly hope this isn't the case and he is taking liberties because he doesn't understand the contract.

fergi

i wouldn't do it. have him pay you half at least. or put it into an escrow account.