Originally Posted by **********

For small projects, demand 50% down payment, and the rest on completion.

For larger projects, demand 33% + 33% after a milestone is reached and the final 33% upon completion.

Charge per hour and avoid quoting flat rate. Too often people come up with new ideas half way through a project that ads hours or days to a project. If you must stick to flat rate, make sure the project is carefully detailed in an email and agreed to first, noting that any changes cost extra.

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We had a client once made up of 2 partners. They both knew what they wanted color wise but could not agree on anything else. One had a wide-screen 2560x1440 monitor while the other had an old 800x600 monitor. Both complained constantly to us and to each other about how it should look, with neither one of them willing to understand that their monitors were so different. It was a sickening experience, especially because we were suckered into a flat-rate job. NEVER again.