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Odesk workers - advice please...

by bunnybunny
18 replies
Hello,

Just wondering if anyone could provide some advice.

I put a project on odesk to design my site from scratch in Joomla for a fixed price and I got 2 people respond so I upped the price and got one more. I took this job off and put hourly and then suddenly I got 47 people interested. I picked a guy who had good feedback and he said it will cost no more than $1200, he seems to be doing a decent job so far.

The one thing is that he insists on working on his local server and I have asked him to work on my server but he says that my server will be too slow and that he will update my server weekly. Does anyone know if this is true? I have trust issues from previous bad experiences.

Grateful for your reply.

Cathy
#advice #odesk #workers
  • Profile picture of the author JOSourcing
    Banned
    If you allow him to work on his server based on the premise that it's faster, your final/hourly costs should decrease. So ask for a lower bid price, and then update the contract to reflect the changes. (I have no idea if oDesk allows contract amendments, but it should.)

    If the provider hesitates with cost adjustments, start working on plan B. Hesitation would be a red flag.
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    • Profile picture of the author bunnybunny
      Thanks for your reply. He said it will not cost more than $1200 but he is working on hourly. So far he has taken 32 hours in one week and in this week he completed the theme for joomla from an image I sent him and started working on my internal page. I am happy with the price fixed at $1200 but he insisted working hourly, on his own server. I don't know why I am suspicious but he has other work in progress for other clients and I just got a feeling he cannot be working full-time on my project as he has others "in progress" it also says he is from a company with other programmers, any ideas how that works?

      After all my jabbling, is it possible for them to cheat the hourly odesk monitoring?
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      • Profile picture of the author JOSourcing
        Banned
        Originally Posted by bunnybunny View Post

        Thanks for your reply. He said it will not cost more than $1200 but he is working on hourly. So far he has taken 32 hours in one week and in this week he completed the theme for joomla from an image I sent him and started working on my internal page. I am happy with the price fixed at $1200 but he insisted working hourly, on his own server. I don't know why I am suspicious but he has other work in progress for other clients and I just got a feeling he cannot be working full-time on my project as he has others "in progress" it also says he is from a company with other programmers, any ideas how that works?

        After all my jabbling, is it possible for them to cheat the hourly odesk monitoring?
        Let's make sure we're addressing the same problem because I don't know how there can be a fixed fee and an hourly cost. If you set up a contract for a fixed fee job, but are somehow being billed hourly (plus you're not satisfied with the progress), you need to contact oDesk's support system.

        The other concerns (working on his own server, working with a company) aren't an issue unless you specified otherwise in your contract.
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        • Profile picture of the author wizzard74
          Originally Posted by JOSourcing View Post

          Let's make sure we're addressing the same problem because I don't know how there can be a fixed fee and an hourly cost. If you set up a contract for a fixed fee job, but are somehow being billed hourly (plus you're not satisfied with the progress), you need to contact oDesk's support system.

          The other concerns (working on his own server, working with a company) aren't an issue unless you specified otherwise in your contract.
          OP took the fixed cost job down and replaced it with an hourly job.
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          • Profile picture of the author JOSourcing
            Banned
            Originally Posted by wizzard74 View Post

            OP took the fixed cost job down and replaced it with an hourly job.
            Thanks. Had to re-read the OP to see.
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  • Profile picture of the author Ankesh Kothari
    If his rating is good on odesk, you won't have much to worry.

    There could be 2 reasons why someone has more than 1 ongoing project at one time:
    1. He works 60+ hours a week. And divides his time between 2 employees.
    2. He is a team member for someone else, and does troubleshooting and support work.

    There isn't much to worry about if the developers ratings are good. And you have determined a deadline from before.

    His insistence on working on his server alone... he may have a very slow net connection. He may be from a developing country with less than 1mbps net speed. Even then, you don't want them to move code to live once a week. At least ask him to do it daily - so you can check on updates frequently and provide him with timely feedback.
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  • Profile picture of the author JohnJonasVA
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    • Profile picture of the author DigitalDanny
      In Odesk you can set up an weekly limit of hours, and you can track their work pr hour by the screenshots taken. Follow it up, and make notes to it if you find anything suspicius.

      In another hand, that he want to work on his own server can be a protection for himself if he have had bad experiences in the past.
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  • Profile picture of the author onegoodman
    Most of good programmer would do the work on their own servers, however, I would want to see him upload it to my server every while and then since he working per hour, and you should keep a back up for these files.

    I would rather go for a one time budget price than going per hour, if you are not comfortable and familiar with what he is doing.
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  • Profile picture of the author JOSourcing
    Banned
    All in all, bunnybunny, if you're concerned about a lack of sufficient progress or increasing costs, require reporting based on a set of milestones, and then raise an issue with oDesk if those requirements aren't being met.

    I don't know if oDesk counts conversations between outsourcers and providers as contract amendments, but if it does, then you should expect a finished product at no more than $1200 (what the provider promised).
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  • Profile picture of the author Dimagiba
    Pick, the best portfolio and also the comment of each employer. Then try him/her for 3 days and see the result if good or not.
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  • Profile picture of the author wizzard74
    The good thing with running an hourly job on odesk is the logging software can log everything that the worker does, so if there is any dispute you will have screen captures of what the worker has been doing with their time.
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  • Profile picture of the author Andrew Skelly
    Don't fall into the hourly rate trap. I hire tons of people from odesk and rarely do I do hourly. Flat rate guarantees you get what you paid for. Hourly does not! They can string you along for weeks milking you dry then suddenly disappear. Meanwhile odesk has been charging your credit card weekly for the time that the contractor is billing for. Check the guys feedback if he has a bunch of unfinished hourly "Jobs In Progress" from several months ago than STAY AWAY! $1200 is a hefty sum. Do a flat rate and offer a payment schedule on your terms not theirs.
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    • Profile picture of the author wizzard74
      Originally Posted by Andrew Skelly View Post

      Don't fall into the hourly rate trap. I hire tons of people from odesk and rarely do I do hourly. Flat rate guarantees you get what you paid for. Hourly does not! They can string you along for weeks milking you dry then suddenly disappear. Meanwhile odesk has been charging your credit card weekly for the time that the contractor is billing for. Check the guys feedback if he has a bunch of unfinished hourly "Jobs In Progress" from several months ago than STAY AWAY! $1200 is a hefty sum. Do a flat rate and offer a payment schedule on your terms not theirs.
      Quite sure about that? Flat rate jobs aren't covered by odesk when it comes to disputes.

      I already pointed that with hourly jobs odesk take screen captures of the work that is being done, so there's no milking to be done as you have proof of what they've been doing. So you can lodge a dispute.
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      • Profile picture of the author Andrew Skelly
        Originally Posted by wizzard74 View Post

        Quite sure about that? Flat rate jobs aren't covered by odesk when it comes to disputes.

        I already pointed that with hourly jobs odesk take screen captures of the work that is being done, so there's no milking to be done as you have proof of what they've been doing. So you can lodge a dispute.
        Absolutely they are. But my point is who cares if odesk takes screen shots if after 3 weeks of paying someone on an hourly bases they completely disappear without finishing the job. Will odesk refund you everything you've paid up to that point? I have personally been in this position myself and I can tell you that they did not. Flat rate is the way to go on such a big job like this. Even for little jobs flat rate is better.
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  • Profile picture of the author johnes4th
    If he seems to be doing fine so far, then I wouldn't worry. Granted I have never posted jobs on Odesk, so my perspective is from the provider side of the equation.

    Plus, like wizzard74 said, the benefit of hourly projects is that you can use the screen captures to make sure that he is getting everything done in a timely manner.
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  • Profile picture of the author David Keith
    I would say that having a developer work on their local server is certainly not abnormal in many cases.

    With odesk, you get random screen shots from the developers computer when they are "on the clock" its shows mouse clicks and a couple other activity metrics.

    Its not very easy for a programmer to inflate hours by any meaningful degree if you are a proactive manager.
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  • Profile picture of the author johndoejohndoe
    I'm not sure how payment works for odesk, but putting it on his own server would ensure he is compensated for his work. Some people prefer doing everything locally then transferring over.
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  • Profile picture of the author bunnybunny
    Thanks for your replies, things have become v.slow last week and it is annoying me already, so I am going to ask him why
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