Is there a practice of transferring a half-completed project?

Question

Freelance

Actually, we need advice from the community on how best to proceed in this situation.

8 months ago, they offered me to take one order for the development of a service (marketplace). The customer had a crooked project that was made to him in the studio, he wanted to redesign and add features, but the project structure was not suitable for changes, its own CMS, logic mixed with display, calls of some classes, in general, one nightmare.

At that time, I had free time, little experience, I wanted to earn extra money, I suggested to a friend to split the project and we agreed to do it, took a period of 4 months and started creating from scratch using zend as a development platform.

But it turned out that we made a mistake. When we started to typeset and took a closer look at the layouts, it turned out that many elements that seemed the same are not, and typeset many times more than expected. Initially, we planned to take pieces of logic from the old project, but when we analyzed it, we came to the conclusion that the code was not suitable for exploitation. In addition, my friend, although he assured me that he could devote enough time to the project, does almost nothing, referring to being busy.

As a result, we delayed the deadlines, in 8 months I had less free time, in addition to the main job, a profitable part-time job appeared. The customer constantly demands something that we did not originally plan, and it is somehow embarrassing to refuse him because of the failure to meet the deadlines, which makes the deadlines even more delayed. My friend does not help me, and I no longer have the strength to look at this project.

As a result, the work is half done, we took half of the payment, and I can’t work with him. It’s unpleasant for me to look at it, it’s not financially profitable for me to deal with it, but I don’t know what to do next, can I bring the customer together with a new contractor and give the project away? Or tell the customer about saas stores and open their eyes to the fact that his project, even completely ready, will not be able to compete with them? Or simply refuse further development, citing some reasons, because we received money only for the work performed.

Answer 1

You have a special case of a well-known problem called "can't estimate required timeframe".
In order for you to be able to plan deadlines and meet them, you need several conditions:
— the entire task must be divided into subtasks that you have already done and know which one will take how long
— during the iteration, the requirements should not change, including at the initiative of the customer .
It all comes with experience. I can tell you that your time delay situation is not unique at all. Many developers and teams make mistakes with scheduling. This is not good and right, but these are the facts. Do not give up. Understand that this is not your fault, and do not let the customer "push on the rot" and give you additional work for free. He did not buy a phone in a store, he ordered development, and in development there is always a fork of labor costs. If he did not understand this, then he is not a professional. If, at the same time, he accuses you of failing to meet the deadlines and demands: “you promised me Y for X rubles, so give Y a nosebleed” - you can send him.
In general, the answer to your question "what to do" depends on how you agreed - either on some amount of work or on the final product. But taking into account the fact that your project is already “not worth it” - it doesn’t matter how you agreed, there are few options:
- Explain to the customer that you made a mistake when estimating labor costs and you cannot continue on the same terms. Sell ​​as is, no refund.
- Explain to the customer that you made a mistake in estimating labor costs and bring the project to some kind of logical conclusion as soon as possible. Ignore all requests for additional free work. Rent, take the rest of the money, forget.
The first option is more profitable for you, because in the second case there is a risk of not receiving the second half of the payment, and also because the delivery of the project is not the end, but the beginning, because. every project needs support.

Answer 2

One of the main mistakes of freelancing is to take other people's unfinished projects for revision (not support, but revision). Another major mistake is hiding information - when a freelancer avoids talking to a customer and is playing for time. You made the first mistake and there is a chance not to make the second, good luck.

Answer 3

If I were the customer, I would also take your money back.
To be honest, from the story it is clear that there was shit code, two times less people worked than they should have, the deadlines were incredibly tightened.
such a project should have been completed in the first month.

Answer 4

Admit to the customer that you are not a professional, return the money and all current developments. Pulling rubber is even worse, primarily for the customer.

Answer 5

Since you have screwed up everything from the very start, it makes little sense to write some kind of documentation or design documents at the transfer stage. Offer to consult for free at the beginning of the person who will complete the project.

Answer 6

Or tell the customer about saas stores and open their eyes to the fact that his project, even completely ready, will not be able to compete with them?

Why? (really interesting)

Answer 7

Rewriting, especially on zend, is a bad practice, you should have been on your guard at that moment. when you realized that you could not finalize the project. Through refactoring, any shit can be made more or less manageable.
Now on the question, yes, there is no particular problem with the transfer of the project, but you should normally document the logic of work, the link tables and how the data changes. I would advise at the first stage to conduct a code review of the new vendor so that he does not start rewriting the project from scratch.