Vent: client loved my work but insisted I use their cousin's template that broke half my formatting

I spent 8 hours on a logo redesign for a bakery in Austin, and they paid me $600 no problem, but then they made me redo it in a PowerPoint file their 12-year-old nephew gave them. Has anyone else had a client micromanage the tools you use even when the results were fine?

3 comments

3 Comments

caseywalker10d ago

Started telling them upfront that I'd need a signed agreement if they wanted me to rebuild in someone else's file format. Charged them my hourly rate for the extra time too. They backed off real quick when they saw the cost of that kind of rework. Sometimes you just have to make it a business decision instead of a creative one.

troyc1710d ago

The real question is how many people actually walked away once you showed them the price tag. Clients say they want everything exactly how they envisioned it until they see the number on the invoice. Did any of them try to negotiate you down or promise future work as a discount? I have a feeling that kind of pricing strategy weeds out the tire kickers pretty fast. What percentage would you say actually goes through with the signed agreement after seeing the rate?

taylor_wells10d ago

Yeah that pricing approach works better than most people expect. I tried something similar a few years back after getting burned on a project where the client kept asking for revisions in a format I didn't normally use. I started quoting a separate line item for any file conversion or format changes, something like a flat fee of a few hundred bucks depending on the complexity. Most of them either dropped the request or decided the original format was fine after all. The ones who did pay for it were serious enough that the work went smoothly. It really just separates the people who want to waste your time from the ones who actually value what you do.