Exiting Client Relationship

Since there is no agreement or contract, I would guess that there is also no statement of work or requirements document.

How you handle this greatly depends on whether you want to burn any bridges with this "client."

You also need to decide whether you would be willing to finish the project if circumstances changed for the better.

If you don't mind burning bridges, simply send the customer a letter (not an email) stating: a) The customer has failed to to stick to a firm set of requirements and thus leaves the project with no defined end state; b) The customer has failed to compensate you for all the work that you have done; c) You are left with no choice but to terminate the relationship with the client. If you go this route, don't expect any final paycheck unless you are willing to go to court to get it.

If you would like to remain on friendly terms with this client (possibly using them as a reference), still send them a letter stating a) and b) above, but change c) to state your terms for bringing the project to a close (i.e. a firm set of requirements bundled in a defined statement of work, an agreement to pay for all hours worked, a firm, realistic completion date). Without these things, you could end up in consultant hell for an extended period of time.

For what it's worth, you are also to blame here for letting things get as bad as they have. If you get nothing else out of this experience, I hope (for your sake) that you now realize the importance of a proper written agreement/contract.

Good Luck.

Fire them before they fire you!

Send them a HUGE, documented, invoice for all of this extra work. May sure that it's marked as payable upon reciept and send them a list of companies that could do the work and their prices. Explain your "Hours of Operation" and after hours rates. Explain your communication requirements.
They won't pay it and they will want to discuss it as soon as possible.

If the money is important to you you may want to do business the way my plumber and auto mechanic suggest. Put a lien on their business assets if they don't pay! ... Consult your attorney, not my plumber.

You are a contractor, you have the same rights as a plumber or auto mechanic, it's called a mechanic's lien.

This contract is still worth alot of money and there is no reason why both parties still cannot gain from this, the following are good options:

Find another IT Pro capable of taking this project on full time and present the client with an invoice for work to date and also include an updated list of terms and conditions for continued work to include standard working hours, overtime pay and payment terms >Strictly 7,14,21,28 Days from date of invoice etc, hand the work over to the capable IT bod you managed to find and pocket some extra cash for managing the project, the client will be happy they have someone there during working hours and you will be happy with a bit more time on your hands. This workaround can work very well as the IT Pro you hand this too does not have to be in the same country as the project.

You will also need to be quite firm if requests for past payment fall upon deaf ears and not be shy in obtaining a solicitors letter should the situation require it, the client will respect you more if you play by their rules.

All the above are good. However, I would find the early e-mails etc that discuss the work wanted. Then find the completed work that met those tasks. Match them up. Then do the same for the different changes that the client requested.

Then when you can show that you have done each item of work as requested (not necessary to do for the very latest which you are choosing not to do), you present this all in a report to the client poitning out the amount of time spent. Bill the client for the work that is above the original request that he has paid for. Then point out that you now have other work and family committments that do NOT permit you to spend as much time on his work and that he will either have to find someone else to do any furture work (suggest some names and numbers for him) or he will have to accept that work on all new and future changes will take much longer than they have in the past and he will have to wait until you can do the work in line with your other commitments.

This should present you as a professional who ahs been trying to do the best by the client whilst getting you out from under with little risk of being sued. No forma; contract he has little ground. However, the e-mails where he requested work and your responses to them do represent an informal work agreement.

BTW Dont hold your breath waiting for payment or future work.

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