# Build, buy or hire: contracts by how clear the scope is > Decide per piece of work, pick a fixed price or time and materials by how clear the scope is, write a short request for proposals and pay for accepted work. - Course: [Project Management Without the Bureaucracy: Run One Project from Brief to Closure](https://productovi.com/courses/project-management-without-bureaucracy.md) - Module: Closing and learning - Lesson 29/32, ~24 min - Source: https://productovi.com/courses/project-management-without-bureaucracy/build-buy-or-hire ## Where we are **Alex Tutor:** Late January 2027 at Klasna: the physics launch you lead for Leo opens on its fixed date, Monday 1 February. This last stage closes the project: settle contracts, hand over to operations, check the results in March and record what the next project should learn. **Vira:** The illustrator sent the last batch of practice-set diagrams. I want 40 more for the April mock exams. Same person, or do we ask around? **Danylo:** Before you answer: we built the diagnostic test, we buy the video rooms, we hired out the diagrams. Three choices, none an accident. **Alex Tutor:** That's **build, buy or hire**, decided per piece of work. Build what is core and will keep changing. Buy what already exists. Hire for clear, bounded pieces your team can't do well. **Sofia:** So the test was build because Danylo's team will keep tuning it after launch? **Alex Tutor:** Exactly. Who maintains it after launch often decides. Diagrams don't change every week; the test will. > **Exercise:** Match each piece of the physics launch to the choice that fits it best. ## The contract follows the scope **Sofia:** How did we pay the illustrator? **Alex Tutor:** A **fixed price**: 120 diagrams at 450 UAH, 54,000 UAH in total, in three batches of 40. It worked because the scope was clear up front: the problems, the style, the file format. **Vira:** My checks were in the contract: each diagram matches its problem, Ukrainian labels, an editable vector file. Batch two had six wrong arrows; we paid once they were fixed. **Alex Tutor:** That's the second habit: **pay for accepted deliverables**, not hours or promises. Acceptance criteria make "done" checkable by both sides. **Danylo:** The platform contractor was the opposite. In November nobody knew how big booking by subject really was. **Alex Tutor:** With an unclear scope, a fixed price makes the contractor pad the price or fight every change. A **time-and-materials** contract pays hours at an agreed rate. The risk of growth is yours, so add a cap and a weekly check of what was delivered. > **Exercise:** **True or false:** a fixed price is always safer for Klasna, because the contractor carries the risk of extra effort. **Alex Tutor:** Apply that to the platform contractor's work in November. > **Exercise:** In November nobody knew how big "booking by subject" really was, and Klasna hired the platform contractor for it. Which terms fit that work best? ## A short request for proposals **Vira:** So for the 40 new diagrams: fixed price again? **Alex Tutor:** Yes, the scope is as clear as before. But don't re-hire by habit: send three illustrators a short request for proposals. What you need, by when, how you'll accept, how you'll choose. **Sofia:** How will we choose? **Alex Tutor:** Weighted criteria, each with its direction written down. Say quality 40%, price 30%, date 20%, revisions included 10%. Price: 5 is the lowest. Date: 5 is the earliest. **Danylo:** Why spell out the direction? Cheaper is obviously better. **Alex Tutor:** Obvious, until someone scores price by size and the dearest bid wins. Written down, two people score a bid the same way. And a hard requirement is a gate, not a weight: a sample with wrong physics is out, however cheap. > **Exercise:** Three bids for the 40 diagrams, scored 1–5 (5 = best in the stated direction). Weights: quality 40%, price 30% (5 = lowest), date 20% (5 = earliest), revisions 10%. Gate: quality at least 4. > > - **A:** quality 5, price 2, date 3, revisions 4 > - **B:** quality 3, price 5, date 5, revisions 2 > - **C:** quality 4, price 4, date 3, revisions 3 > > Which bid wins? **Alex Tutor:** And where does correct physics go: a weight or a gate? > **Exercise:** **True or false:** "the physics in every diagram is correct" should get the biggest weight in the scoring, say 50%. ## Pay for what you accept **Sofia:** And if the new illustrator asks for half the money up front? **Alex Tutor:** A small advance can be fair for a freelancer. Tie the rest to accepted batches: 40 diagrams in two batches of 20, each paid after Vira's check. **Hanna:** From my side: write down who signs the acceptance and where. I pay against a signed batch, not a chat message saying "looks fine". **Alex Tutor:** So what do you agree with the new illustrator? > **Exercise:** The new illustrator asks for half of the 40-diagram fee up front. Vira, who owns the physics curriculum, checks every diagram, and Hanna, head of finance, pays only against a signed acceptance. What do you agree? **Alex Tutor:** One more thing: from Monday physics is operations, so Vira owns this order and pays from the operating budget, not the project's 600,000. Your job is to leave the request template behind. **Vira:** So the project hands me a template, not another task. I like that. > **Exercise:** Put the steps of hiring the illustrator for the 40 diagrams in order. ## What goes into the request **Sofia:** Let me list what the request needs before I write it. **Alex Tutor:** Good: scope, deadline, acceptance, contract and payment, weights with directions, the gate. Nothing that reveals what other bidders offered. **Danylo:** And a date for the decision, so nobody waits for an answer forever. **Alex Tutor:** Yes. And ask for a two-diagram sample: the cheapest quality check before signing. > **Exercise:** What belongs in the request for proposals for the 40 diagrams? Choose all that apply. ## Your turn: the request for 40 diagrams **Vira:** The April mocks start on 5 April. I need the diagrams by 20 March to check them. **Alex Tutor:** Then write the request Vira can send this week, short enough to read in two minutes. **Sofia:** Scope, date, checks, fixed price per accepted batch, weights with directions, one gate. **Hanna:** And the name of whoever signs the acceptance, please. > **Exercise:** Write the **short request for proposals** for 40 diagrams for the April mock exams (5–8 lines): scope, deadline, acceptance criteria, contract type and payment, 3–4 weighted criteria with the direction of each, one gate, who signs the acceptance. The April mock exams start on 5 April, and Vira needs the diagrams by 20 March to check them. > **Key points** > > - **Build, buy or hire** is decided per piece of work: build what is core and will keep changing, buy what exists ready, hire for clear, bounded pieces. > - Ask who will maintain it after launch. > - **Fixed price** when the scope and acceptance criteria are clear; **time and materials** when they aren't, with a cap and a weekly check. > - A short request for proposals: scope, deadline, acceptance, contract and payment, weighted criteria with the direction of each, a hard requirement as a gate, a decision date. > - Pay for accepted deliverables, signed by a named person. > - After opening, new orders are operations; the project leaves a template. **Alex Tutor:** Next: the handover itself. From Monday someone other than the project team runs physics. Who, and with what? - Previous lesson: [Case: the contractor slips two weeks](https://productovi.com/courses/project-management-without-bureaucracy/contractor-slips-case.md) - Next lesson: [Acceptance and handover to operations](https://productovi.com/courses/project-management-without-bureaucracy/acceptance-and-handover.md) --- Productovi Learning. Free, no sign-up needed to read.