Problem with outsourcing to freelancers

I have been outsourcing some work to freelancers. I have had some great success and some less than ideal outcomes. If I am working with a freelancer who is not pulling their weight for whatever reason, or we are just not getting anywhere with the brief (or any other significant problem that has been attempted to be fixed), what is the best way to cut losses? How long is it worth sticking at a process when the budget and timescale is tight?

If I am working with a freelancer who is not pulling their weight for whatever reason, or we are just not getting anywhere with the brief (or any other significant problem that has been attempted to be fixed), what is the best way to cut losses? How long is it worth sticking at a process when the budget and timescale is tight?

The best time to be thinking about this is (unfortunately for you ;-) before the project starts. Figure out what you're milestones are. Figure out what your contingency plans are. Figure out what the flags and mechanisms are for withdrawal.

Without knowing the detail of the work involved it's hard to give specific advice on what to do now.

Always having things laid out properly is the best way for all parties. I have spent time with grumbling clients yet the blame ends up coming back to them as they altered the project as they weren't sure what "they" wanted. End result project takes longer than it should and as a "Freelancer" they become irritated and decide to drop the project or lose enthusiasm.

So always laying things out for exactly what you want is important and setting the milestones so they get paid a percentage everytime they hit one.

I have my own BPO company and its a struggle sometimes because of the clients, we can only work with what we are given. At the same time I have also hired people that have hyped up the sales and delivered zero.. so seen from both sides of the coin.

If they aren't reaching your milestones call it a day, simple as that.

I've hired a freelancer to complete some PHP for me at the moment, 2 weeks and still nothing, I've a feeling he's outsourcing it to someone else, waiting for the work to return, doing a code review, then handing it over to me. My project isn't time critical though and the price is ok, after I review the code for the 1st delivery, if it's acceptable I'll continue with him for the final deliverable but I'm not going to use him again. It's extremely hard work finding good development freelancers.

With my other projects generally I hire 3 or 4 people to do the same, quick, deliverable then pick the best to finish the job off.