Re: contractor rate

["Ned Bedinger" <doc -at- edwordsmith -dot- com>]

----- Original Message ----- 
>From: "Greg Thompson" <gthompson -at- conformia -dot- com>
>To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
>Sent: Monday, August 30, 2004 11:35 AM
>Subject: contractor rate
>

>Hi All:
>
>What do you do when a client quotes you one rate during an interview for
>a contract position and then sends you an acceptance letter (by email)
>announcing that they want to hire you for this contract but at a rate
>lower (7 dollars per hour lower) than the one they originally quoted you
>at?


They obviously subscribe to the idea that changing the terms is allowable,
so I think I would have pursued it to a logical end, by angling for a rate
increase somewhere down the line, subject to a performance review.  My
effort would be toward something like this:

"We've discussed the rate I need to take this contract.  My rate is in
keeping with the prevailing rate charged by tech writers at my level in this
area. You've offered me substantially less, so I propose that I take the
loss and start work now, and you agree to increase my compensation to my
rate after 3 months, subject to a review of my work on the project."

FWIW, I've done this once, and I DO NOT recommend it for everyone--there are
some thorny problems with doing business this way.  In the first place, it
is tantamount to giving away a live three-month sample of your work, which
is not a great strategy, over time, for making a living . It isn't so bad if
you're breaking even, or even bleeding a little, as long as your prospects
for long-term work and that raise are good. But even if the financial risk
is manageable, I don't recommend it primarily because of what I identify as
"contract inertia"--that is, the general sense that a contract is simply not
renegotiable.  The agency or employer will probably not have done anything
like this before, and their budget won't have a line item for contingencies
like "Tech Writer performance-based pay increase". IN my experience, even if
they agree, you'll have to remind them later that you're looking for that
raise (do it well before the date your anticipated raise will kick in, and
be prepared for adverse reactions), and you'll have to hedge your bets by
looking for better-paying work anyway. All in all, it is a lot of stress,
and you should probably not go for this arrangement, unless you feel like
the following conditions obtain:

1.  They recruited you because you have hard-to-find skills,
2.  They obviously can afford to pay you what you need (they have other
contract professionals on their staff), and
3.  They have taken advantage of a down market to offer you a lower rate.

In my case, these things were true. Still, it was like pulling teeth to get
the increase, and I doubt I'll be called by that particular employer again,
which is too bad because I liked the work, and they're the only ones doing
it.

As I always tell my teenaged son, "Live and learn."  His pointed rejoinder
also applies:  "Then maybe you'll get some love."

Ned Bedinger
Ed Wordsmith Technical Communications





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