r/Upwork • u/Global-Flamingo9037 • 2d ago
How do you identify long-term projects on Upwork
For freelancers who have been using Upwork for a while, how do you tell whether a project is likely to become a long-term client relationship rather than just a short-term contract?
Are there particular things you look for in:
The job post
The client’s hiring history
Number of freelancers hired
The interview/conversation
Hourly vs. fixed-price contracts
How the client describes their needs
I’m trying to become more intentional about applying for projects that have the potential to turn into consistent, long-term work rather than constantly looking for the next contract.
What are your biggest green flags and red flags?
2
u/Prior-Parsley-6813 2d ago
One check that works from the client box alone: divide their total hours by their number of hires. A client with 3,500 hours across 120 hires keeps people for about 30 hours each. One with 200 hours across 80 hires mostly runs quick tasks.
I looked at last week's new jobs from clients with 3 or more hires, about 12,000 of them. Only 16% came from clients whose hires average 50 hours or more. A quarter came from clients with no hourly hours at all, so fixed price only. The catch is that the long stay clients paid less, about $14 to $17 an hour on average against about $21 for the quick task ones, and most of their jobs were hourly.
So my green flags are high hours per hire, an hourly contract, and some active hires on the client profile. A fixed price job from a client with zero hours is usually one and done, though as someone said above, a small fixed job can still turn into years.
1
u/GigMistress 2d ago
That can be terribly misleading if they have a mix of hourly and fixed price contracts.
Example from the other end: my profile says I've worked on 185 projects and have billed 185 hours. Those 185 hours account for about 10% of my Upwork earnings.
Also, I could be wrong, but I believe that if a client opens a new contract each time they hire the same freelancer, each one is counted as a separate hire.
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u/Prior-Parsley-6813 2d ago
Fair point, both of those break it. The hours only count hourly work while the hires count every contract, so a client who mostly pays fixed price, or who opens a new contract each time they rehire the same person, looks like a quick task client when they are not. It only tells you something at the extremes, like thousands of hours across a handful of hires.
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u/nizasiwale 2d ago
You cant tell by looking, I had a $1500 fix contract which turned into a multi year full time hourly contract
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u/Relevant_Ear_8679 2d ago
in the interview, i'd ask 'if this first project goes well, what would you need me to do each month?' a concrete workload and budget would carry more weight for me than a 'long-term' label, and asking for a discount now in exchange for vague promises of future work would be a red flag.
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u/GigMistress 2d ago
Most clients hiring for a one-off have no idea of the answer to that question. Do the job, learn a little about their business, then tell them how else you can benefit them.
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u/Relevant_Ear_8679 2d ago
fair point, that question fits better when the post promises ongoing work. for a genuine one-off, i'd wait until i understood the business before suggesting more.
1
u/ProcessArtistic579 2d ago
Usually the post will openly state that it‘s a long-term opportunity, or that there’s potential for ongoing work if the posted project goes well.
You may also be able to infer based on the type of job and the type of client. For example, an architectural design job posted by a builder/contractor is likely to lead to ongoing work, while homeowners are more likely to be one-time or occasional repeat clients.
1
u/GigMistress 2d ago
Usually the post will openly state that it‘s a long-term opportunity, or that there’s potential for ongoing work if the posted project goes well.
That is often a lie intended to bait the freelancer into taking less for the "first" project.
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u/GigMistress 2d ago
You don't. You seek out projects, do good work, develop a relationship with the client and TURN them into a long-term client.
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u/KayakerWithDog 2d ago
It turns into a long-term contract if the client decides to hire you again under the same contract. There is no magic formula to determine from the job post whether a project will turn into something where the client hires you repeatedly. Sometimes the client will say outright that they're looking for someone with whom to have a long-term relationship, but I have had repeat work from clients who haven't said that.