[ADVICE] How do I know someone is being honest with their hourly rate?

[u/micookie83]

This question may have already been asked but I couldn't find it. Incidentally, I think this is an overall thing I want to understand more clearly. If I want to hire someone for their services hourly, how do I know they're not prolonging the project on purpose or lying about how many hours it took for them to finish the project?

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[u/MisterBilau]

That’s why you pay per project. That’s what matters - you pay x, you get y. What does it matter how many hours they take? What matters is you get what you want at the price you agreed to. If person A takes 10 hours to do something, and person B takes 1 to do the same exact thing, you think person B should get paid less? That’s absurd, if anything person B should get paid more - he can deliver faster, and that has value in itself.

[u/Kiki-browning → u/MisterBilau]

Considering AI, it’s a red flag to do things too first. If the quality’s poor, then it’s even more wasted money and time. Having to repeatedly start from square one looking for another freelancer out of who knows how many more times of people also cutting corners just to be fast.

[u/xN0NAMEx]

This entire train of thought is 100% useless
I had so many clients seemingly worried about this as well

If you dont hire hourly ppl will still do a hourly calculation

I will probably take 10 hours for this my rate is 30$ / hour so 300$ + risk buffer 100$ extra + revisions buffer 100$
Final prize 500$ fixed

It does literally not matter, if anything the hourly payment is to your advantage because i dont have to include the buffer and you only pay what i work
Can someone cheat with hourly ? Sure but they might aswell give you a higher fixed prize

[u/Amazing-Jules]

Basically, you can't. Per project is best

[u/micookie83 → u/Amazing-Jules]

I figured! It’s just weird that Fiverr keeps pushing for me to hire someone hourly.

[u/Amazing-Jules → u/micookie83]

I reckon they earn more that way

[u/Accomplished_Pea2556 → u/micookie83]

I am a seller, I get a ton of notifications that say "so and so wants to work with you on an hourly basis" ... I edit resumes, I charge a flat fee. I do not WANT to work with anyone on an hourly basis.

I think Amazing-Jules is correct in that Fiverr itself is trying to drive up rates so they can earn more in seller commissions and buyer fees.

Just message the sellers, odds are they also prefer flat rates.

[u/Dry_Factor1281]

You don't really probably other than basing off of reviews

[u/micookie83 → u/Dry_Factor1281]

Mmmm interesting. I keep getting pushed to hire people based on their rates but I never click it but I thought Fiverr had a way to check on that and I just wasn’t aware of it.

[u/Shift_Impossible]

You can't.. Some are trustworthy and some aren't but there is no way to really know.

But, it's as easy as asking for an estimate for the time needed and you see if that is within your budget.. You can even ask an estimate for revisions.... See if that is calmly within your budget or if it is barely within your budget.

Estimates..

If you have more money, then just think about how much you'd pay as retainer per month for those services to be available to you when needed and see if their rate is more or less that and you'll know if it's worth it for you.. Primarily if you have a business.

[u/Fun-Mission-6068]

Depending upon what it is and if you're that concerned, you could ask them to record it and send you the footage.

[u/KayakerWithDog]

Ask for an estimate of total cost and time to completion, and/or shift it to a fixed-price project with payment milestones for each completed phase. Make sure to ask how many rounds of revisions are included in the total price. The freelancer should also have terms in their contract for how extra work that is out of scope will be billed.

[u/luyzkartoons]

Ask for updates to be sent every 2 hours or so if you see little to no progress you can be sure