[tptacek]

When you bill hourly you are literally demanding that your clients account for your time on an hour-by-hour basis. So, no, it's not the same.

If you're subcontracting in order to make ends meet, then you don't have any control over your project structure; you're a subcontractor. My advice is to plot a course to not subcontracting anymore as soon as you can. I doubt that the driver developer who kicked this thread off is subcontracting.

[swader999]

I've been in full control of the architecture, team makeup, feature design, most of the technology choice, and often the feature priority. I put my foot down on clients that dictate how a feature is to be built and give them the 'why' talk. I've had enough control over all the projects I've ever worked on these last fifteen years I've worked hourly.

I get your ideas about subcontracting, but I've always been treated higher than an employee and typically like a partner. The trick to this is to charge a ridiculously high rate. That instantly establishes the dynamic and relationship I want.

[tptacek]

But you don't have a direct relationship with the actual buyers of your work, so you don't control your project structure, and the middleman business reselling your work presumably needs to be taking a cut. It's no wonder they treat you well, right?

[swader999]

Well for the case right now, I'm building a multi tenant system. Some tenants want features that no others want and they pay for my hours on those. I still have enough control in these cases.

I come up with better lower costing solutions when the stakeholders express WHY the feature is needed, what problem it solves. Then we and I can creatively explore HOW to solve the problem. There's usually several ways to solve anything, many that vary by orders of magnitude in terms of cost or architectural complexity.

If I am dictated always on the HOW, handed fully solutioned work to implement like a monkey I rebel and have a long talk about how this won't work. I never have had to quit over this stance but I would if it wasn't reconciled.

So when I say control, that's really what I specifically mean by that word. The ability to negotiate and explore the HOW with the why being firmly in mind.

[Closi]

Not really, if you are a consultant or external business you account for your own hours - you set a budget and then hand in a timesheet either weekly or monthly, then send an invoice at the end of each month.