Heard a barista say something that stuck with me about stopping rework

I was grabbing coffee last Tuesday and overheard a freelance designer telling her friend that she finally added a disclaimer saying 'three rounds of changes included, anything beyond that gets billed at my hourly rate.' That simple line made me realize how much time I've burned over the years going back and forth on stuff that should have been settled upfront. I remember one client back in 2019 who had me rotate a logo 2 degrees at a time for seven versions before they picked the original again. I never charged extra for that because I felt awkward bringing it up mid project. Now I always write down a clear revision cap before any job starts, even if it's just a handwritten note on the estimate. Has anyone else found a specific number of rounds that works best for them?

3 comments

3 Comments

alext526d ago

Seven versions of rotating a logo 2 degrees at a time - that would drive any person crazy. I do work on small electrical jobs on the side and I started putting a hard stop at three revision passes for any estimate I write up. That seems to cover the major adjustments without letting things drag out forever. What did you end up settling on for your own cap after that logo fiasco?

kimr916d ago

@alext52 "seven versions of rotating a logo 2 degrees at a time" made me laugh out loud because I read about some designer who had a client ask for 22 rounds of tiny tweaks before just picking the first draft. It's like people don't know what they want until they've exhausted every option. I ended up capping it at three revisions too after getting burned on a project where we spent two weeks on Instagram template colors. @margaret551 is spot on that three is the sweet spot, I heard somewhere that most people's brains can't really tell the difference past that anyway for small changes. Now I put "major revisions only" in my contracts to stop the 2 degree tweaks before they start. It saves everyone time and headaches.

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margaret5516d ago

@alext52 Totally agree with that three round limit, it's the sweet spot. After a month of tweaking a logo's kerning pixel by pixel for a client who finally asked for the first version, I started writing 'three revisions max' right on the invoice too. Put an end to those 'could you just try one more thing' requests right quick.