Once you’ve hired a guru, the next step – and it’s an important one – is to ask them for an agreement. Be sure you review it carefully before accepting, because your agreement determines several things:
- How much and when you will pay.
- The type of invoices you will pay.
- The minimum SafePay balance you agree to maintain (if any).
- How often you will receive status updates.
- Whether you will be protected in case of a dispute.
The following five sections of an agreement are the ones you should pay the most attention to:
1. Billable Hours
Check each team member’s maximum hours and individual rates (to estimate what your weekly bill could look like).
2. Milestones
Make sure each milestone clearly states what you want to see before you pay.
3. Billing Schedule / Invoicing
For hourly jobs, you’ll receive an invoice once per week showing the breakdown by team member. If someone tracks more time than the agreement allows, you can easily remove excess time tracked or billed. For fixed-price jobs, your guru will invoice you for each milestone once it’s complete.
4. Minimum SafePay Balance Required
A guru can ask that you secure their work by requiring you maintain a minimum balance in SafePay. This will be either the cost of the current milestone being worked on plus the next milestone (for fixed-price jobs), or a percentage of the cost of the next week’s work (for hourly jobs). This balance will still remain with us until you approve your guru’s work by paying an invoice.
5. Status Updates
Request how often you want your guru to be responsible for updating you on the status of your job. You can use the new work room tools to see time or progress made on milestones, and to send messages. This encourages better communication and is helpful in the event of a dispute.
Want to learn more? Read our Employers Guide to New Agreements.
1 Comment
Hello All,
I would like suggestions on how to tactfully walk away from a job. Recently, I have had to decline to work with an employer after several red flags: She was not able to meet my original quote, was not informed on how to use the site as an employer, she wanted to work directly through my personal email rather than the site, and would not accept the formal agreement based off of our discussions in Guru.com messages. She took issue with the SafePay policy and surcharge. I gently explained to her the purpose of SafePay and the formal agreement. I asked her if she would like to rescind her offer to hire me, I understood. But I reminded her that I would not be able to continue work as schedule if she was unable to provide the security I needed via SafePay. She decided to rescind her offer. My question to Gurus: How do I remove this job from my list and how do I avoid future time waste with potential employers like this? Any tips?
Thank you!