Projects & Proposals

Within any conversation with a buyer (from a lead, project match, or direct message), you can send a formal proposal. Click the "Send Proposal" button in the conversation view and choose between Fixed-Price or Hourly. For fixed-price, define milestones (up to 20) with a title, description, deliverable, amount, and estimated completion date. For hourly, set your hourly rate, estimated total hours, and a weekly hour limit. Add a scope description summarizing the work, then submit. The buyer receives an email and can accept or decline the proposal from their dashboard.

Fixed-price proposals break the project into milestones, each with a defined deliverable and payment amount. The buyer funds the full escrow upfront, and you receive payment as each milestone is approved. This works best for projects with clear scope and deliverables. Hourly proposals set a rate and estimated hours with a weekly cap. You submit weekly timesheets logging your hours, and the buyer reviews and approves them for payment. Hourly works best for ongoing work or projects where the scope may evolve.

When you complete work on a milestone, go to the project page in your dashboard and click "Submit" on that milestone. You can attach files and add notes describing the deliverable. The buyer receives an email notification and reviews your submission. They’ll either approve it (which releases that milestone’s payment to your Stripe account) or request a revision with specific feedback. If a revision is requested, make the changes and resubmit. The milestone status tracks each step: upcoming, in progress, submitted, revision requested, approved, and paid.

For hourly projects, navigate to the Timesheet section of your project page. Log your hours for the current week, including descriptions of the work performed for each entry. At the end of the week (or whenever you’re ready), submit the timesheet for the buyer’s review. The buyer can approve it (triggering payment) or request adjustments. Your weekly timesheet totals are calculated from your agreed hourly rate, and the buyer can see a full history of all submitted timesheets week by week.

All project payments are transferred directly to your connected Stripe account. To set this up, go to Dashboard > Billing and complete the Stripe Connect onboarding, which links your bank account. Once connected, payments flow automatically: for fixed-price projects, each approved milestone triggers a transfer; for hourly projects, each approved timesheet triggers a transfer. 50Pros charges no platform fees or commissions -- only standard Stripe processing (2.9% + 30¢) applies. Payout timing depends on your Stripe account settings (typically 2 business days).

If a client opens a dispute on a project, you’ll receive an email notification with the reason. All milestone and escrow activity is frozen while the dispute is under review. The 50Pros team will review the situation and may reach out to you for your side of the story. Possible resolutions include: payment released to you, refund to the client, a split of the escrow, or project cancellation. You can also open a dispute yourself if a client is unresponsive after you’ve submitted completed milestones. We aim to resolve disputes fairly based on the evidence and communication history within the platform.