I\'ve just started freelancing and have two projects where I am splitting my wee

Question

I've just started freelancing and have two projects where I am splitting my week with both companies, one I'm charging hourly and everything is fine, the other one however they have said they will pay me based on a points basis using Pivotal Tracker.

For example, there's a fixed rate per point and they work on an estimate that I will complete two points per day, I was just wondering if this is something that is used regularly or if I should try and get them to switch to hourly?

My concern is that points are only used for features and if a feature has a bug this isn't taken into consideration so any time spent fixing that bug won't be charged. Correct?

Explanation / Answer

they have said they will pay me based on a points basis ... I was just wondering if this is something that is used regularly or if I should try and get them to switch to hourly?

Whether this approach is common or not doesn't really matter, it's what is being offered to you.

Contract work is usually hourly or by per-project. For example, if framing a house the crew might be paid $X per hour or they might be paid $ABC total for the project.

The second company is offering you a variation of the per-project approach. Their projects are variable in size and they are using points as a means to assess the size.

Switching to per-project shifts some of the risk of the project onto the contractor (you, in this case). The company is saying "we'll pay $ABC total for you to do XYZ." You have to assess the risk of being able to complete XYZ in a period of time that keeps your earnings at a reasonable level.

This can work to your advantage if you're really quick at programming. If you complete the project in less time than they expect, then you are effectively paid more per hour of work.

This can work against you if the estimates are off or you run into unforeseen problems. Your effective hourly rate will be lower in this case.

You need to think about how accurate their estimates are, what the quality of their code is, and how well you can work within their code base.

My concern is that points are only used for features and if a feature has a bug this isn't taken into consideration so any time spent fixing that bug won't be charged.

Not necessarily. This is something to negotiate with the company. In other trades, per-project contracts often have an "extenuating circumstances" clause that allow for an hourly time-and-materials rate to be charged when unforeseen problems occur.

In this case, the sooner you can identify problems the better. You want to be able to raise the issue prior to investing too much of your time that may not be compensated.

Whether or not you should accept their per-point offer depends upon how comfortable you are with the risks involved. It also depends upon whether or not you think you can make the circumstances work in your favor.

You may not have a choice either. The company may not be willing to negotiate. And if that's the case then you'll need to look for contract work elsewhere.

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