My client went from 'just tweak the homepage' to 'redesign the whole site' in 2 weeks

Started with asking me to move a button 3 pixels left, ended with them wanting a full e-commerce checkout flow added for free. Has anyone else had a client try to sneak a total project change into a 'quick fix' request?

4 comments

4 Comments

mitchell.thomas8d ago

Man I heard this exact same story from my buddy Dave who does freelance graphic design. He had a client who asked him to "just change the font color" on a landing page and by the end of the week they wanted a whole booking system with payment processing and inventory tracking. Dave spent three hours on the phone trying to explain that font colors and building a back-end database are kinda different things. He finally just sent them a quote for 12 grand and never heard back.

miaprice8d ago

Haha classic. Font color to full stack real quick.

park.aaron8d ago

Twelve grand is actually reasonable for that kind of scope creep. I always tell new freelancers to put a cap on free consultation time like 30 minutes max, then send a formal proposal with a line item for every single feature they ask for. It either filters out the tire kickers or gets you paid fairly.

wesley6398d ago

I gotta push back a little on the 12 grand being reasonable thing, @mitchell.thomas. In my experience that kind of quote can just kill any chance of a real conversation about what the project actually needs now. I had a client pull almost the same thing a few years back and instead of throwing out a big number I sat them down and walked through how each new piece meant more time, more testing, and a separate contract. Turned out they just didn't get how different moving a button is from building a checkout flow. A friendly but firm talk about scope can save everyone the headache without making it about money first.