Contract Work Advice - Legal Stuff?

[DL84]

Hi all,

Wanted to get your input on a project that I might take up as its a bit new territory for me.  The design isn't really of concern, the project itself won't be difficult...I'm more concerned with the "business" side of it.

A coworker of mine (non-software guy) has a "friend" who is looking for a developer to create a GUI for him and his franchaise diner.  I'm not entirely sure of why, but the friend some time ago had a buddy of his create the point of sale (POS) running on their computer in VB.  I suppose this guy is no longer doing contract or for some reason can't be reached.  He gave me a bunch of image captures of the POS in action, and he wants me to recreate it.  It doesn't look difficult at all from what he has given me.  I am going to have lots of questions for him right now its one of those "Hey, I hear you could do something like this...are you interested?  Take a quick peek and see if you want more details sort of thing"

Looking at it quickly, I am able to do what he is asking.  (Pending 1-2 issues dealing with magnetic card swipes if he wants that)  So my question to you is....do you have any advice for freelance work?  I'm a bit confused myself as to why if he owns a franchise - and why he even needs someone outside to provide this to him (I would assume when you buy the franchaise the software is given to you!)  I'm not sure thats any of my business though as the contractor?  I'm not sure what to do, I do not know this person so its not "under the table work"...does a contract and the whole 9 yards have to be done?

My company pays me to do labview and a whole heck of a lot of other engineering duties....this would be something on the side - but as you can see I'm so new to "freelance" I don't even know the questions to ask...and I'm afraid if I don't there could be legal issues?

Thanks for any advice!

[Matthew_Kelton]

You most definitely need a contract if you want to protect yourself.  With no contract, you could do all this work, and he won't pay you.  Not much you can do about it since you have no contract stating he would pay you and how much.  You also clearly define the project and whether it is a fixed amount or hourly pay.  Make sure you outline what happens if someone cancels the project (it doesn't work out, or you can't get the program to work to his satisfaction, etc.)  It also helps clear up any misunderstandings.

If he refuses to do contracts, you refuse to do the work.

[tst]

As a side point - you didn't mention what you will be using to write the software. If it's a tool owned by your company (e.g. LabVIEW), there is an ethical (and possibly legal) problem in using it for something private which is making you money.

[Ben]

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A coworker of mine (non-software guy) has a "friend" who is looking for a developer to create a GUI for him and his franchaise diner.  I'm not entirely sure of why, but the friend some time ago had a buddy of his create the point of sale (POS) running on their computer in VB.  I suppose this guy is no longer doing contract or for some reason can't be reached.  He gave me a bunch of image captures of the POS in action, and he wants me to recreate it.  It doesn't look difficult at all from what he has given me. 

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Speaking as an ex-free-lancer who has been "stiffed".

A POS app is NOT trivial when you take into concideration taxes, network-outages, payment types ...

Clearly define what you are going to do and what you aren't way before you start talking money. And unless you have a lot of spare time to kill, don't let yourself agree to fixed price were the customer decides if the work is completed.

Almost a third of our company is involved in getting all of those details worked out before anyone "drops a node".

Coding is the "easy part".

Ben

[ShotSimon]

I agree with tst.  You will want to look at the Secondary Employment Policy that your company has.  Usually you are not allowed to use your primary company’s resources to do outside work.  So technically you will have to purchase your own version of Labview.  Regards, SS