Had a lightbulb moment at the grocery store about scope creep

I was grabbing a cart at Kroger last Saturday and watched a kid ask his mom for one thing then keep adding more stuff. It hit me that I was doing the same thing with my design projects... letting clients tack on little extras after we agreed on the price. So I started writing the exact number of changes included in the initial quote, like "2 rounds of small edits" right in the email. Has anyone else had success with putting a hard cap on revisions before any work starts?

3 comments

3 Comments

shane_morgan4d ago

and thats the exact system that actually works. I been doing this for a few years now and @sandragrant is dead on about listing costs upfront. What really sealed it for me was putting that cap in bold red text at the top of the estimate before anything gets signed. Clients will try to stretch your goodwill every single time if you dont draw a hard line. I even started charging for any change that goes beyond that limit, no exceptions. It weeds out the people who want to treat you like an endless design machine rather than a professional. Some folks walked away at first but the ones who stay actually respect my time and pay better.

sandragrant4d ago

Hard cap on revisions is a lifesaver. I list exactly what's included and what costs extra in the original estimate, no surprises later.

barbaradavis4d agoMost Upvoted

@sandragrant is 100% right. I do the same thing and it saves so many headaches.