> >    4.  Reasonable access to me afterward for advice, training, etc.
>
> How would this be worded in a contract?
>

IME this is assured by working with a reputable consultant that plans to be
in business in the future :-) Often this is specified in a contract such as
"X hours of support after delivery is included", or "Post delivery support
will be billed at X $/hr".

> [snip]
> >    1.  My home telephone number, or unlimited free conversation time on
> >    my office phone.
>
> Do consultants normally work on several projects at the same time?  I
would
> expect the developer to be 100% dedicated to our project, from the
beginning
> to completion.
>

>From my experience this is totally unreasonable. And may not even be what
you're thinking. As a customer you should want competent developer(s)
spending the necessary time on your project to meet the agreed upon
timeline. If you dictate that a developer is to be 100% dedicated to your
project, then he/she can't support previous projects, or bid future
projects, or reply to PICLIST e-mail ;-), or a lot of other things small
business people have to do every day.

> [snip]
> >    3.  The right to dictate the specific hours or place that I'd work
> >    on their projects.
>
> What if we were to ask you to work on our premises?  The motivation here
is
> the same as for #1 above - we would like to be able to give and receive
> feedback in real time.  The hours are flexible (we have two overlapping
> shifts).
>

The real time issue becomes less important as the size of the project
increases. Small jobs (~1 day or less) I almost always do at the customer's
site. For larger jobs I tend to do more of my work at the office, but it's
dependent on the tools neccessary for the task too. And don't underestimate
the 'home-court-advantage'. Sure I can work in somebody else's office with
my laptop and what I can carry, but I'm a lot more productive at my desk
with a regular keyboard, a 19" LCD and a stack of databooks at the ready.
And if you're paying by the hour, wouldn't you rather I was more productive?

Remember, consulting is a special kind of work and attracts atypical people.
Myself for example, I do my best work between midnight and dawn and I like
to sleep till noon, other's take to consulting for the scheduling
flexibility for family or other obligations. As a customer, you have the
right to have your project completed by agreed upon deadlines - but I became
a consultant to get away from somebody else thinking they had control of my
daily schedule.


BTW, the quality of the advice from the PICLIST is usualy poportional to the
amount of information we have about the problem. Give us a little more info
about what you're looking for. (hardware / software development, prototypes,
mechanical, ect)

-Denny

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