hi all,

we are in final stages of the hiring process for a developer to design a simple searchable database for an online marketplace. buyers and sellers will then connect and transact over our platform.

there is also a simple community/social network component with ratings, reviews etc (not unlike dani web).

they estimated that the project will take 22 weeks but we had initially agreed based on a 15-16 week time frame. We are trying to bring the number of weeks down as 5.5 mths to develop a relatively simple database and add a few features should not take so long.

also, the payment structure they have given us seems a little skewed:

30% advance
50% at the end of 2 weeks when database design and architecture is finalized
20% at the end of 22 weeks upon project completion.

we don't feel comfortable paying 80% within the first two weeks of the project since there will be many weeks left to completion and only 20% of the payment remaining so they can easily renege on the project.

Any suggestions from you guys as to how we can structure this better so as to make sure both parties are happy and motivated??

Any help is greatly appreciated!