Working With Contractors Made Easy

“But, If I Dump the New Contractor, How Do I Get My Deposit Back?”

The answer is simple: no, you don’t. You never expected to. The money was allocated as a trial, and you should already be used to the fact that you will never see it again, regardless of the outcome.

The value of the trials should be low enough to make you comfortable with the loss. After all, you aren’t really spending this money on project work, you’re spending it on a trial. So, if a new contractor fails the trial, you’ve obtained the desired information (that the contractor isn’t worthy) and can move on.

It takes a few times to get used to this, and the urge to argue with the contractor and try to recover the funds is strong. However, your business needs to move forward, not backwards, and the is little to be gained from investing more time and energy trying to recover a small amount of money from a vendor you will never work with again. You’re better off moving on and never looking back.

Poor Communications - Causes and Remedies

Poor communications lead to mismanaged expectations and poor results. Expect to spend at least 1 hour in management for each 10 hours of contractor time -- possibly more, depending on the circumstances. When in doubt, always over-communicate and urge your contractor to do the same. Try the following tips to prevent communication breakdowns:

1. Establish clear milestones early in the project, and stick to them.

2. Ask the contractor to provide a daily status report, and update a staging server with all new work on a daily basis if applicable.

3. During every communication, always arrange the next communication. (i.e. ‘let’s communicate again tomorrow around 6pm’). Do this every time, without fail.

4. Avoid IM communications in general. They are rarely useful, always inefficient, and hard to use for knowledge capture.

5. Capture all correspondence in email form and keep your inbox organized for future reference.

6. Use the phone in addition to email. Email is good but the phone adds a degree of intimacy and personal touch not available via email. After each call, send an email reiterating the main points of the call.

7. Never go too long without an in-person meeting.

8. Always require your contractor to confirm that they’ve received your communications. (i.e. ‘Ok, I have the instructions and I’m getting started on it tonight.’)

Building Loyalty With Contractors

Once you’ve invested time and energy into a contractor relationship, you need to keep the relationship healthy and alive. Be sure to keep your contractors as busy as possible, and be loyal to them as you would ask them to be loyal to you. A happy contractor makes your business succeed.

What's next? Money and contractor payments...