How do you guys make sure you get paid?

[Richard Gaskin]

Lynch, Jonathan wrote:
> If you create an application for someone, and periodically e-mail an
> updated version of the incomplete app to them, to make sure you are
> creating exactly what they want, then how do you prevent them from just
> keeping the last incomplete version, using that, and not giving final
> payment?
> 
> Yes, you could always sue them, but that is such a mess.

And in the States as often as not the winner is not necessarily the one 
whose position is more correct, but merely the one who can afford the 
bigger law firm.

Messy indeed....

> Also, how do you ensure that they do not change their mind and decide
> they don't want it at the last minute, after you have put great work
> into it?
>
> Or - are these things not really problems because they happen too rarely
> to be a concern?

They used to be for me when I was starting out.  After a few bad apples 
I learned how to smell a jerk at 50 yards, and generally avoid them from 
the outset.  Here's one clue:  if a prospective client seems more 
interested in the fine points of the contract than the fine points of 
the software design, they may be the type who profits more from 
legalistic maneuvers than from quality of their work.

I know some developers only deliver a password-protected app with an 
answer box hard-wired in the startup handler that notes something to the 
effect of "For evaluation purposes only".  After receiving final payment 
they deliver a version with that line removed, along with the source stack.

For myself, I prefer the simple high road:  I work in good faith and 
deliver the finished goods in distributable form.  At that point on most 
projects I already have at least two thirds of the payment.  If they 
want to sell their soul to the devil for one third of the cost of a 
small project they're worse off than me.

This is a small world.  People who'll sell their soul for so little have 
  a way of making a reputation for themselves. Their world gets ever 
smaller each time they shaft someone, and they have to spend the rest of 
their lives with one eye over their shoulder.

On the very rare case when my intuition fails me and someone turns out 
to be operating without normal ethical standards,  I'll ask 'em once, 
then twice, then move on.  Prolonged engagement with people of such low 
standards often consumes more than it returns.  Rather than throw good 
time after bad, while they live with one eye over their shoulder I keep 
my eye on the ball and attend to more productive activities -- the best 
revenge is living well.  :)

And that's maybe the best tip I can share:  listen to your gut. 
Intuition is the most powerful meta-logic engine in our brains, if the 
least understood.  If your gut tells you a potential client may be 
trouble, pay heed.  Find a polite route to the door and then run -- 
don't walk -- to it.

As one of my friends reminded me, if you take a project where the client 
has a high PIA factor (pain in the butt) you might possibly do okay, but 
the one thing that's certain is that the committment will prevent you 
from working with more interesting people for as long as you're engaged.

--
  Richard Gaskin
  Fourth World Media Corporation
  __________________________________________________
  Rev tools and more: http://www.fourthworld.com/rev