Intro Box
The top box displays the most simple information about the project.
Basics - The project title, the freelancer's profile photo, and the freelancer's name.
Started Date - The day the project proposal was accepted.
Due Date - The client has the option to include a due date for the project. This date is not binding, but a statement of your ideal. You can make the date later by clicking the yellow pencil icon.
Budget - The budget that you're prepared to pay for the completion of the entire project. If the project ends before completion, the freelancer won't necessarily be entitled to this full sum. You can increase it here by clicking the yellow pencil icon.
Remaining - The amount of the above budget that hasn't been paid yet.
Paid - The total that you've paid over the course of this project.
Milestones Tab
In this tab, you'll see the status of all of the milestones the freelancer has sent for this project.
"Accept Milestones" Button
Project-based projects are not paid according to the amount of time spent on them; they're paid by completion. This happens through one of two approaches:
Either the client pays for the completion of the entire project in one lump sum, or -
The users break the project into smaller segments, called "milestones," and the client pays the freelancer each time one of these is completed.
If the client would like to commit his whole budget all at once, the freelancer can post a single milestone that represents the entire project by requesting the entire budget. Alternatively, if the freelancer would rather be paid throughout the project process, he can submit milestones for the completion of each significant segment and get paid along the way.
The client accepts milestones with this button. When you accept, you're charged the amount the freelancer asked for and ZMZ holds the money while the freelancer works. This way, the freelancer doesn't have to worry about not getting paid. For more on this, see this article.
"Close Project" Button
When the project is done, you can click here to initiate the closing process. You'll be prevented from moving forward if there are any un-delivered deposits or milestones in dispute, but not for milestone proposals that you didn't accept. For more on this, see this article.
Milestone Banners
Once the freelancer proposes a milestone, a white banner with its details will appear in your milestone tab. Here's what you'll find:
Milestone Title - Ideally, the freelancer should give each milestone a title that makes clear what segment of the project will be covered in this milestone.
Invoice total - This is how much the freelancer is asking you to pay for the completion of this milestone. You'll be charged this amount by ZehMizeh before the freelancer starts working, and we'll hold the money until the milestone is completed.
Dates - You'll see different dates, depending on what phase the milestone is in, including: when the milestone was accepted and the charge was deposited, and when the charge was finally paid.
Milestone Description - This is an in-depth description of what the freelancer will be doing during this milestone.
Attachments - If you're going to see any attachments - especially the work the freelancer completed - it will appear below the description.
Due Date - The freelancer is required to submit an approximate due date for when he'll finish this milestone. This isn't binding, but it is intended to keep everyone on track.
Status Boxes - Project-based milestones have five statuses (found in the upper-right corner of the banner):
Milestone Proposal Pending - The freelancer has submitted a milestone proposal, but you haven't accepted it yet. When you do, you'll be charged the milestone fee and the freelancer will begin to work.
Milestone Payment Deposited - You accepted the milestone proposal. ZehMizeh is holding the money and the freelancer has begun to work.
Waiting for Release - The freelancer has submitted his completed work for your consideration. You can either accept the milestone as complete by pressing the "Delivery Payment" button or request revisions with the "Request Revisions" button.
Revisions Requested - You sent this milestone back for corrections.
Paid - You approved the work the freelancer did and clicked the "Deliver Payment" button. The money has been sent to them and this part of the project is considered done.
Messages & Project Details Tabs
There are two other tabs found on each project page.
Messages Tab
This tab offers the primary way for users to communicate during a project. You can search within your message history from the "Search Messages" bar at the top. You can share attachments by clicking the stylized paperclip icon on the bottom-right of the screen, next to the yellow "Send" arrow. This project's message history can also be accessed on the Messages page.
Project Details Tab
This tab displays all of the details of the project that you listed in the original post, plus any changes you accepted from the freelancer's project proposal. This tab is here primarily for reference, so both parties have in mind what was agreed to.
Of course, it will sometimes be appropriate to change some of these details during the course of the project, (i.e. the delivery date, expected hours, etc). As long as those changes are discussed and confirmed in the messages tab, they will be considered binding for any issues that could arise in a dispute.
That means, for example, that if the project was originally supposed to take a week, but then the users discussed extending the due date - neither user could later file a dispute based on the original agreement of one week. (As always, this is only as long as it was discussed on the ZehMizeh website... see our dispute policies for more on this.)