The scope creep that turned a 2 week job into 3 months in Seattle

I had a client who kept adding little tweaks after every review, and each one seemed harmless, but by week 8 I realized I was doing double the work for the original $4,500 quote. I finally put my foot down and sent a change order for the extra hours, and they tried to guilt me but I held firm. Anyone else deal with a client who treats your time like it's unlimited?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_elizabeth2d ago

Isn't it funny how "one small tweak" always turns into a week of extra work? I had a similar situation last year with a website project. The client would email me at 11pm with "quick little changes" that somehow needed to be done by morning. By the third week I was redoing entire pages that we'd already finished, and the original timeline was completely out the window. I finally sent them an itemized invoice for all the extra hours, and they were shocked, like they didn't realize every email I received cost them money. I learned to start every project with a written list of what's included, and everything else goes through a formal change request. It's the only way to protect your time, because people will happily take every hour you give them.

gray3141d agoTop Commenter

The part about them being shocked when you sent the invoice really hits home. I've had the same thing happen, they act like you're being unreasonable when you charge for the exact work they asked for. What finally worked for me was setting up a simple rule: any change after the initial sign-off gets a written estimate before I touch it. No estimate, no work, no exceptions. It sounds harsh but it filters out the people who just want to use you as their personal design tool. The good clients respect it because it keeps everything clear. The bad ones get mad, but honestly, those are the ones you want to lose anyway.