In general, contracts do not need to be fully signed before you start interviewing remote developers. Agencies usually split the process into two tracks:

1) Sign a simple NDA first so they can share candidate profiles.

2) Run interviews and choose a candidate.

3) Finalize and sign the service/placement contract before the developer formally starts work.

Companies like BEON.tech follow this two-track approach (staffing and legal in parallel) to avoid delaying interviews.

In general, trial-and-error hiring of remote contractors risks reputation damage, ethical issues (asking people to quit then cutting them), operational disruption when someone “vanishes,” and higher failure rates due to weak vetting across distance and cultures. Companies like BEON.tech mitigate this by avoiding trial hires and using rigorous multi-step screening (technical interviews, cultural fit checks, and client assessments) plus a three‑month warranty period with free replacement if a hire doesn’t work out.

After 24 months in the contract-to-hire model, you have two options:

For pure recruitment (contingency / direct hire), BEON charges a placement fee equal to roughly three months of the hired candidate’s salary, typically with a three‑month guarantee period if the hire doesn’t work out. All BEON candidates are pre‑vetted both technically and culturally, which significantly increases the chances of finding the right fit. Because of this added rigor and higher success rate, our fees are slightly higher than those of a typical recruitment firm.

BEON’s MSA (Master Service Agreement) is a standard framework contract that defines the general terms of the relationship with a client—covering IP assignment (work-for-hire, you own the code), indemnity and misclassification risk, termination rules, payment terms, and similar legal provisions.

The MSA itself does not create any long‑term or minimum‑volume commitment. Actual commitments only arise when you sign individual SOWs (Statements of Work) for specific engineers, and each SOW can typically be terminated with a 30‑day notice.

The minimum project length for remote developer contracts is generally set at around one year, as commitments shorter than 12 months (e.g., 3–6 months) make it much harder to attract strong talent who seek stability before leaving an existing job.

The notice period to end a staff augmentation contract is typically 30 days, although in general notice clauses can range from 2 to 4 weeks depending on the staffing provider’s terms.

Consulting firms that staff contractors typically operate on thin margins (around 20%) and cover nearly the full contractor salary out of the client’s monthly rate. Because they must pay those salaries at the end of the month regardless of when the client pays, waiting 30–45+ days after invoicing would force them to pre-fund one or more months of payroll, creating significant cash‑flow risk.

Requesting upfront or early-in-month payment (often invoicing on day 1 with net‑15 terms, or using a one‑month deposit) ensures the firm has the funds in hand by the time salaries are due. This reduces the chance they pay two or three months of salaries before detecting a late or missed client payment, which could wipe out many months of profit and threaten their ability to operate.