Get out of long running contract

Good afternoon all!

I'm a first time freelancer programmer looking to make a bit of extra cash in my spare time. An IT Consultancy company came to me with the prospect of a project in September last year.

The work was not very well defined, but I was promised a spec would be available soon. From the rough outline provided, we agreed a fixed 40 hour development time via txt message with the work to be carried out at the end of January.

As time went on, a spec was not still not provided, and only very rough "requirements" in the form of the odd word document here and there along with sketches were emailed to me. There was no in depth analysis done on their side of what the system should really do other than very high level description. I did as much as I could with the information provided, and produced a system that did what was asked given the limited information by the end of December.

I got the feeling they didn't really know what a spec was and that their technical or business knowledge was not up to the level I would have expected of an IT consultancy firm. I asked them to produce a spec for me to tell me exactly what they wanted, even so far as giving them a template of what it should look like. Over the months, they did provide a spec, adding bits here and there, but still to this day, there are several sections missing from it and not very much information.

I have gone over the 40 hours now and there is still things that are undefined.

I know I have definitely made mistakes due to my inexperience in this area, such as not getting a spec up front, agreeing time frames and getting it all down in a formalised contract. I am a very conscientious person (and definitely a bit of a pushover) and want to do the right thing, but after my expectations that this would be done by January, it has been on my mind the whole time and I dont see an end in sight - Once they do finally complete the spec, there will be the support aspect from things they didnt consider in the spec.

Does anyone have any thoughts or suggestions if I am able to get my self out of this jam?

Many Thanks

 

This might be worth a read Nick83!
https://www.freelanceuk.com/news/4166.shtml
Come back to me if you're still stuck!
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Moore News Ltd - expert care for your editorial needs.

 

If you will hover for jobs like this you will end up no where and will ask this question again in 1 or 2 year.
So better to get your skills going in one field and should go for field that you love most.

 

Thanks for your valuable post. This information can help us succeed.

 

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