What is a deal in milestones?

At Useme, we know that some jobs take more time or are too complex to settle under one contract. That is why you can settle the contract with us at different milestones. In this article, you will learn:

1. How to sign a job contract in several milestones?
2. How the contract is settled in several stages
3. When to use the contract in stages
4. How to settle a contract with an advance payment thanks to the contract in a milestone?

How to sign a job contract in several milestones?

The whole process is the same as sending a tax invoice for a “single” work.
Click on the “Bill my client” button and fill in the required information. In the second step, select the milestone column under the “Value of the contract." The checkbox will expand once clicking on the box. Provide the title of each stage, description, contract value, date of completion. You can also choose separate copyright for each milestone. If any of the stages of the work is extended, the next stage will also shirt accordingly.

How can I settle a deal in milestones?

After finishing the “Bill my client” form and send it to us. We will send a pre-invoice for the client for the first stage. The client will receive a tax invoice after sending the payment. We will notify you to finish work within the deadline once the payment is credited to our account. Upload the finished work to the first stage to Useme via the link that we sent to you in a separate system message or from your account. (Deals → relevant deal → appropriate milestone → upload the work).

We will transfer the remuneration once the client approves the work. The process will repeat from the beginning once the client pays the pre-invoice for the next stage.

If you have uploaded the work in the first stage of the contract, it will end automatically. We will send the client a pre-invoice to the next stage, and we will repeat the whole process again. 

Remember! Each milestone of the contract is a separate contract for a specific task, from which we pay an advance income tax payment. 

The client will not receive a collective invoice from us for all the work. We will send separate tax invoices for each subsequent milestone.

 When to use a deal in milestones?

It is worth using this type of contract in milestones if you want to settle:

• the large scope of work: If the ordered work is extensive, the contract in milestones is beneficial to both parties. The client can monitor the progress of work on an ongoing basis, and the division of the task into smaller parts increases the comfort of the freelancer's work.

• long lead time: In the case of work where a certain result is needed for a longer period of time, a phased contract also facilitates task completion. The division into stages facilitates the settlement of current activities performed, without the need to wait for the settlement until all works are completed.

• corrections: Use the contract in stages if you provide for paid corrections to the outsourced work. This applies, for example, in the implementation of graphic works if, in addition to a certain number of corrections included in the agreement, you also want to include corrections separately payable.

How to settle an agreement with an advance payment thank to the contract with milestones?

By diving the contract into a different milestone, you can also take care of the contract in which you collect an advance payment, e.g., for further activities related to the execution of the project.
Remember that the advance payment must also be settled as a specific work contract. Therefore we need the appropriate name, description, and file for the first stage of work. You can settle for the work with an advance payment, for example, “Work plan” or “Work schedule.”

If you use advances to secure your remuneration, a more efficient way is to have all work settled through a secure uSafe Useme transaction. You can read more about the settlement of advances by means of a contract in stages on our blog here.