Shoutout to the client who made me see scope creep differently

Last month I had a web design client in Chicago who kept adding small requests to a $2k project. At first I thought it was normal since all clients do that a little. But after they asked for 4 extra pages and a custom contact form on day 3 of a 10 day timeline I realized I was losing money fast. I actually changed my mind about being flexible and now I write every single change into a separate contract. Has anyone else had a client that pushed them to finally set hard boundaries?

3 comments

3 Comments

casey34214d agoMost Upvoted

That 4 extra pages in 3 days move is a classic trap, I've been there too. What finally worked for me was a clause that says "all changes after the first round must be quoted and approved before work starts" - it stops the creeping requests cold because they have to say yes to a price. Also started building a buffer into my timelines so even when clients push, I'm not scrambling. The key is having a system that makes the extra work visible and expensive from the start, not after you've done it. You mentioned writing separate contracts for each change, does that slow things down or do clients actually pay faster that way?

val97414d ago

My buddy sent a client seven separate invoices for one brochure and they finally stopped asking for tweaks.

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faith2714d ago

Did you charge them by the revision or by the sigh?