Contractor coordination

What contractor coordination is

Contractor coordination is one person standing between you and every freelancer a content project needs. I find them, brief them, agree their fee, set their deadline, chase them, check their work against the brief, send it back when it misses, and pay them. You get one point of contact, one schedule and one invoice.

It is not an agency retainer with a bench of staff, and it is not the same as hiring the freelancers yourself and asking me to look at the results. If you only want the finished pieces managed into the website and reported on, that is content production management, which includes this service when a project needs it.

When you need one

A project needs more than one kind of specialist and you do not have the hours, or the contacts, to run them. The common case is a website rebuild or a new service launch: a writer for twenty pages, an editor to make them sound like one company, a designer for diagrams, a photographer for a day on site, and perhaps a video person for two short pieces. Each of those wants a brief, a deadline, a decision and a payment, and each of them will wait for you if nobody else answers.

You do not need this if the project is one writer and one deliverable; brief them directly and ask me for copyediting on the result if you want a second pair of eyes. Nor is it for a business that already has a marketing manager with the time; that person needs a good production schedule, not a coordinator.

What goes in it

Finding. I keep a short list of writers, editors, illustrators, photographers, video producers, translators and developers I have worked with. If your project needs someone I do not know, I find two or three, check their published work, and bring you one recommendation with a reason.

Briefing. Every contractor gets a written brief: what the piece is for, who reads it, what it must include, what it must avoid, the format, the deadline, the fee, and who signs it off. A photographer's brief includes a shot list; a designer's includes the pages the work must sit on.

Scheduling. All the contractors go on one production schedule with their dependencies shown, so the designer is not waiting for a draft the writer has not started, and the photographer is booked for the week the pages need the pictures.

Chasing and checking. I check in before a deadline, not after it. When work arrives I check it against the brief before you see it, and return it with specific notes if it misses. You see it once, when it is right.

Paying. Contractors invoice me. You get one invoice a month, itemised by person and piece, at the fees you approved in advance. Nothing is spent that you have not agreed to in writing.

What you get

The contractor roster. One page naming each contractor, what they do, their agreed rate, and their contact details, so you can go to them directly after the project if you choose. They are your contacts, not my secret.

The briefs. Every brief written for the project, filed with the finished work, so a later piece of the same kind can be briefed the same way.

The finished work. Checked against the brief, in the file formats the website or the printer needs, in a shared folder you own.

One itemised invoice a month. My coordination fee and the approved contractor fees, on one document.

A worked example

An illustration, not a client. A regional veterinary practice with three clinics is rebuilding its website. It needs eighteen service pages rewritten, a set of eight illustrated diagrams explaining common procedures, a half-day photo shoot at each clinic, and four ninety-second videos of vets answering the questions the front desk hears most.

The coordination runs over ten weeks. A veterinary-experienced writer is briefed on the eighteen pages, six a fortnight; an editor follows two weeks behind to make three clinics sound like one practice. An illustrator is briefed with the eight procedures and the page each diagram sits on. The photographer is booked for three consecutive mornings in week six, after the pages are drafted, with a shot list drawn from them. The video producer records all four pieces in one afternoon at the largest clinic in week eight, with scripts drafted from the pages. The practice manager sees five things: the briefs, one draft per fortnight, the photo selects, the video cuts, and one invoice a month.

How it runs

1. A half-hour call. What the project is, what it needs, and when it has to be done. No charge.
2. A fixed price in writing. My coordination fee, plus an estimate for each contractor, agreed before anyone is booked.
3. The roster. Within a week, one recommended contractor per role with a reason and a rate, for you to approve.
4. The briefs and the schedule. Every contractor briefed in writing, every deadline on one schedule, shared with you.
5. The work. Chased, checked, and passed to you only when it meets the brief.
6. Handover. Finished work, briefs, roster and final invoice, in a folder you own.

What it costs

Quoted as a fixed price in CAD after the half-hour call, with the coordination fee stated separately from the contractor fees. The coordination fee depends on how many contractors the project needs, how many pieces each produces, and how long the project runs. Contractor fees are passed through at the rate you approved, with no mark-up. On an ongoing basis, this is included in the Content Engine on the pricing page.

What happens next

When the project ends, the finished pieces need entering and checking, which is CMS content entry if the contractors did not do it. If the project was part of a launch or rebuild, monthly reporting tells you what the new pages are doing three months later. And if the same specialists will be needed regularly, the roster and briefs are the start of a standing arrangement under content production management.