Hit the 3-revision cap on a logo job and actual fireworks happened

I set a hard limit of 3 revisions for a logo project with a bakery owner in Portland last month. After round three she sent a huge list of changes, but I politely pointed to our signed agreement and offered to start a new round at my hourly rate. She paid the extra $125 and actually thanked me for being clear about the rules. Has anyone else found that enforcing the limit early actually builds better trust with clients?

3 comments

3 Comments

sandragrant16h ago

Read a piece in a design blog that said clients actually respect you more when you hold the line on revisions. It stops them from thinking they can keep squeezing free work out of you forever. Sounds like your client was one of the good ones who just needed a nudge.

kevin_williams15h ago

Wait, hold on. You're telling me the client actually just needed a nudge and then respected you more? That's wild to me. I've had clients where I held the line and they still tried to sneak in "one more tiny tweak" after the final signoff. And then they act like you're the jerk for not doing it for free. Must be nice to have a client who actually follows through like that.

troyc1715h ago

Yeah, but I think "nudge" is doing a lot of work there. Like, it wasn't just a little tap on the shoulder. It was more like a full conversation where I laid out everything I'd already done, reminded them of the agreed on scope, and basically said "this is where we're at, here's what it would cost to go further." The result was them respecting me, sure, but the process itself took some real spine on my end. That blog post idea that clients just respect you for holding the line is a little too simple. It's more that they respect you when you can clearly explain why the line is where it is, and back it up with something real, like a contract or a timeline they already agreed to.