The issue with quality of projects is quite a complicated problem. There were quite a few ways to tackle this problem, but in the end I decided to leave it open and follow the flow with a live app in the wild. Just off the top of my head, these came to mind:
- Pre-qualify all projects - Pre-quality all freelancers before signing up - Create a must-use middle man on all projects started with a project manager assigned to it
Even with the list of just those three, the cause and effect of implementing each pigeon holes the business model a lot. Although; doing any of those three or anything else is not out of the question either.
At the end of the day; I guess what I am trying to say is I decided to leave the system completely open and eventually find Freelancify's "calling" and path and follow that to transform into a service that fills the hole (the exact problem you described) that neither Elance, oDesk, etc. fills right now. I think by listening to users, it'll eventually get there. And by Freelancify being a startup and not huge like the others, it has the luxury to pivot and move.