Quality of IT contractors? Expectations?

[jonbuoy]

We are too small a company to have an IT person so we have a guy who runs an IT service come in when we have problems. Great guy and not at all your IT geek stereotype.

He's not the most reliable timekeeper though and when he says he'll be in Thursday afternoon that usually means Friday afternoon. We accept that though and he is always prompt when we have a critical issue (like server not happy post-earthquake).

Not really a great invoicer but does give us a good rate and seems to charge not by how long something did take when there are problems but by how long something should have taken if it had gone smoothly. So we accept that too.

He knows his stuff but sometimes things things seem to take a few days to get finished. He does go the extra mile though and even became a distributor of a product so he could try it on our system to solve a problem so we accept his slow and steady approach which we think comes about due to a large customer base.

What are your expectations or experiences of these 'sole-trader' guys if you have used them? Should we expect more - count ourselves lucky - accept what we have?

I´d be happy with what you have, if he´s not full time and on an "as and when needed basis" you can´t expect him to drop other jobs he might be doing to get to a minor issue you might have or be on standby waiting for your call. Might have the best intentions of getting to you on Thursday afternoon but sometimes a 5 minute job can turn into a 5 hour job.

If he´s a one man band that would explain the slow invoices - he´s got to find time in between jobs to sit down and draw up the invoices - during which the phone rings with an urgent job, in between working invoicing and paperwork he has to try and squeeze a personal life in.

[Usarka]

Just think of it like a builder.

Would I hire a "handyman" to do odd jobs/fixups on the house? Probably.

Would I hire a professional builder to build a new home? Probably.

[Mental Trousers]

The situation may possibly our fault a little for assuming he would realise that a particular job was critical to us because of it's nature when perhaps we should have said 'this is critical'.

No contract. I guess we'd be a casual client as we only get him when we need something. We are a not-for-profit so a proper contracted service or a hosted service is probably a bit out of our budget.

That is something we discussed today. Thought we might get him to give us a regular monthly 3 hour 'system maintenance' session.

Sounds like there's definitely room for improvement in your organisations relationship with this dude. One problem with your current relationship seems to be communication, ie he may not be aware how critical the job is that's taken weeks so far because he wasn't told.

Good communication is an absolute must, but the type of customer you are has a baring as well. For instance, something that a casual customer regards as critical will take a backseat to something a regular customer regards as important.

A small number of regular hours could be beneficial for both of you as he'll have something to plan around and you'll be more than a casual customer to him.

[Pascal]

We are too small a company to have an IT person so we have a guy who runs an IT service come in when we have problems. Great guy and not at all your IT geek stereotype.

His good points:

• He charges you for what it should take.
• Fixes critical problems quickly.
• He is willing to go the extra mile.
• He is cheap.

His bad points:

• He is late.
• He is unprofessional.
• He is lax in record keeping.

Personally, he sounds exactly like the busy sole-trader type of IT business. They're usually run off their feet, chasing problems and have their heads stuffed fulla bits trying to decipher the different problems different customers are having. Can you imagine what his tax records look like?

Not an excuse though.

With all the technology at his fingertips he should know to set appointments, track his time and so forth. He should know how to estimate and quote unless ... well.

He may simply be unaware of what is going on. A lot of IT people that started out as IT people and have not worked in a company where that type of attention and professionalism are required will simply not know that is how it should be done. Fuck, I was a software geek for 10 years before I got into a more corporate type environment where every minute of every day working needed to be budgeted, tracked and paid for by a client. It's a learning curve.

On the other hand, you are getting what you're paying for. So you have 3 choices, I think:

• Chat to him as a friend and point him in the right direction. This could be good for him and you as you keep the good bits of your relationship with him and clear up the bad bits. And help him improve his relationship with customers as well.
• Stick with him as he is if things are acceptable and priced right. You get what you pay for.
• Find a different supplier to work through if things are not acceptable. This may very well end up costing more, but ....

[BuzzardNZ]

why not hire an Indian, they are outsourced to do IT work and come very cheap

[motor_mayhem]

As long as it's not because you're only telling him half the problem, or maybe some of his other customers are.

Fairly often people in general who use IT but have no understanding of it expect that like the internet, diagnosis and repair will be instantaneous and every tech will have memorised the source code of every os and specs of all brands of hardware. If you find a cheap one that's still reliable on the emergency stuff and otherwise provides fixes that work I would say hang on to them. I used to work as a tech and got charged out at an hourly rate equivalent to a handful under half of my weekly wage. Given it was in the corporate sector though...

[Oakie]

... you can´t expect him to drop other jobs he might be doing to get to a minor issue you might have or be on standby waiting for your call. Might have the best intentions of getting to you on Thursday afternoon but sometimes a 5 minute job can turn into a 5 hour job.

Agreed and understood. That's why I accept him saying he's coming Thursday and then turning up on Friday. It's happened often enough at our place that he comes in for a ten minute job and walks out an hour later. In fact, unless it's critical I add 24 hours to the time he says he'll be there anywhere. It's actually a bit of a joke between us now.

[CookMySock]

You'll probably find he's much like you - too small to have a receptionist do his time management for him, not enough money in it to have an invoicing/accounts person - both jobs he hates but has to do when he gets around to it.

"Service" doesn't mean that people are robots, despite what the new business age ethic tells you. It means that they have a heart and they want to help.

[Smifffy]

It still seems to me like the only real problem is this project thing.

How about having a quiet word and asking him straight: "What would it take to have this thing finished by such and such a date?"

Explain that it is being looked at from on high.

He may not even want/be able to do it and is too shy to say anything and just soldiers on. He may need you to buy him a book or fund a course, or lease another computer for the duration of the project,. or buy some software or something.

The rest of it seems to be well in control, from what you've posted so far.

[Oakie]

It still seems to me like the only real problem is this project thing.
How about having a quiet word and asking him straight: "What would it take to have this thing finished by such and such a date?"

There have been two major headaches being attended to over a period of weeks and oddly, he seems to have found a workaround for one yesterday and the other one seems to have reached a breakthrough point today.

[Smifffy]

There have been two major headaches being attended to over a period of weeks and oddly, he seems to have found a workaround for one yesterday and the other one seems to have reached a breakthrough point today.

Maybe he was waiting to hear back from a guy on a forum somewhere?

[Oakie]

Maybe he was waiting to hear back from a guy on a forum somewhere?

Ha ha. Nice.

[Mental Trousers]

There have been two major headaches being attended to over a period of weeks and oddly, he seems to have found a workaround for one yesterday and the other one seems to have reached a breakthrough point today.

Most techs (computer people in general actually) will tell you they can do anything and end up committing to things they should hand off. However, given time they'll figure it out. Sounds like what's happening here.

[The Stranger:Me]

Pretty much my personal opinion too. Good to hear someone else express it.
The situation may possibly our fault a little for assuming he would realise that a particular job was critical to us because of it's nature when perhaps we should have said 'this is critical'.

I must say, I'm pleased your location was listed as Christchurch as it sounded suspiciously like you were talking about me.

I must confess though, you have to prioritize your work load. There just is no other way to do it. I base my priority mostly on what I percieve the business need to be and that's going to vary by comapny and situation. If x is mildly inconvenienced and y just can't work, well y is going to get my time. So yes, sometimes you may need to say 'this is critical' if it really is.

One thing I find difficult to deal with is getting to site to fix something, then you get to site and find there are 3 more problems they want fixed. Mostly you try and squeeze them in - delaying the next job - because you are there. Sure, sometimes you just got to say seeya, I'll be back later, but mostly you try and squeze it in.

The other difficulty is that computers are not like say an engine. With an engine there is pretty much a finite number of possibilities to go wrong. The number of possible combinations of software packages, service packs, operating systems, drivers and hardware etc is enormous. It is very difficult at times to accurately estimate how long you are going to spend at a job and therefore what time you will get to the next job.

I will confess that pretty much the only times I am likely to be at a job on time are if it's first job of the day or if there is a real problem.

That said too, my clients know they can call me anytime of the day or night (and regularly do) and that I'm happy working out of hours. I find it far easier and I'm working a damn sight quicker when they aren't there (no disruptions and can often work on several machines at a time) - and yes it does cost them less as a result.

[Hoon]

No contract. I guess we'd be a casual client as we only get him when we need something. We are a not-for-profit so a proper contracted service or a hosted service is probably a bit out of our budget.

To be honest I think you have got it good considering you don't have a monthly contract i.e. a standard monthly fee which covers x support hrs, y maintenance tasks and z response time, anything outside that being chargeable.

As an ad-hoc customer you will always come 2nd to contract customers. If your IT guys deals solely with ad-hoc work then good on him but if it were me I would be encouraging you to enter into a formal contract, otherwise gradually phase you out over time depending on my workload.

Thats just me and it's good that there are guys like your man who cater to the small business minor IT needs but you have be realistic and understand that you can't be expecting VIP treatment when you're eating at McDonalds. If you don't accept this then you'll just end up at Burger King instead.