What are some advice for hiring developer from freelancer?

I posted a project with wordpress. Most of the features from the site will be done by using plugins. What type of milestone should I set? Some freelancers want a milestone of the full amount and some want it for only $50- $100 bucks. The project average is around $750 but there are some lower bids. With the completion ranging from 5- 20 days. I don't want to tie up some much money into a milestone only to be screwed out of it. I have heard of many people complaining about losing their milestone and fee to freelancer and their accounts suddenly closed. Any advice on the milestone I should be willing it place on the job? Thanks in advance.

 

I don't know enough about Freelancer, but isn't it possible to set several milestones?
Milestone 1: basic functionality, specific plugins installed, etc. - $150
Milestone 2: any themeing finished, smaller modifications etc. - $350
Milestone 3: finished, full functionality, all themes and plugins done - $750

Or, maybe more, depending on what you need to be done, and such

 

Thank you. I will look into it. I never done anything with Freelancer before. Thanks once again for your reply.

 

I never plan to return to freelancer.

To be honest, the best idea is to approach legitimate companies in your local area and have them quote on it. The advantage of a legitimate company is that you can get them to sign an agreement that they wont sell your finished script off to others (when you paid for development). Even if paying locally costs 10%-20% more, chances are that you are likely to be 100% happier.

If you do go ahead with freelancer, popsicle is correct with his outline. Sometimes, when I hire people privately (not in freelancer)I have paid milestones out to developers at things like PSD's, then PSD to html, HTML to wordpress, then for specific stages.

I think best advice for freelancer, is dont take the lowest bid. Always hire the member with the best reputation. Hiring someone from the same country (and similar timezone) also means that there are less communication issues, and this has been the most frustrating thing is waiting hours for a reply (as they are sleeping) and likewise, when they want to ask a quick question, if I am sleeping, the project ends up being delayed another day, simply due to timezones.

Always be patient with deadlines. Its common for freelancers to place dozens of bids and not get a single project, and then suddenly go from no projects to being flooded with projects.

 

Thanks for all the of information. I'm working with the guy who quoted me $500. I broke the payments in 3 of $150, $175 and $175. He wants to advance the first first of $150 at start of accepting before anything done because he has fees (which freelancer.com charge them at the start of winning a project bid). First time experience with such; i hate this...

Should I advance him just the $50 fee to cover the amount freelancer.com is charging him at the start?

 

Yes. It will be fair. Otherwise Freelancer.com will start bombarding your guy with threatening emails (if his balance got negative).

 

I'd go with the $50. Set it as the first milestone, then do three more as before, with VERY carefully defined requirements. That way he's not out of pocket (according to the fees page) but you're not throwing $100 at a random person in the hope that they don't disappear.

Put the first 2 milestones' money into escrow, release the first $50. That way, the other $100 is there and available (and he can see that), but you're not giving it away.

The last two times I hired people to do dev work, I had one disappear with no reason on an hourly job (so no way to get my money back and no working site - learned THAT lesson fast!), and the other delivered something completely different to what I asked for (because their so-called experience was really just setting up a blog template and personalising it, not dev work).

The best advice I would give, in addition to what others have said, is to make absolutely damned sure that your requirements documents are accurate and complete. Know PRECISELY what you want before you start. Make sure the dev knows EXACTLY what you expect of them at each stage - how it works, what it looks like, the process flow, what they have to include, what database it uses, whether it keeps data separate or in with the rest of the app's data, etc.

The more time you spend on your requirements doc, the less chance you have of getting really badly screwed.

Good luck!

Edit: I also wouldn't hire on Freelancer - I'd use Elance. I find it has better-quality people, but that's just my experience.

 

So it didn't work out between that freelancer covering his $50 fee wasn't enough he wanted me to release the who $150 without anything done. I didn't feel comfortable with that so I decided not to do business with him. Thanks for all advice. Much appreciation.

 

I understand your concerns but usually the same "fear" has the freelancer. He could do the job and after weeks of work you could just say what he's done is crap. That's all, he lost time, you didn't lose money. But wasn't fair for him.

 

I've had people demand 100% up-front and refuse anything less... and I do the same as you. If they don't want to be reasonable, it's their loss. Paying the fees up-front and having a quick first milestone should be sufficient for anyone, especially if you're paying into escrow before any work starts.

 

I can't speak about eLancer because I have only actually ever used oDesk but they're the same company now so... yeah. If you're doing a short term project with milestones then yes it's a very good idea. If you're doing a long term project then i say stay away. I got screwed over big time and I am no still looking for developer that wants to partner to finish the project. Just my 2 cents!