Comments on: What to Do When Your Project Outgrows the Agreement

By: Allena

Allena — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 02:19:48 +0000

I hate eating work! Allena's last blog post..Scheduling Your Freelance Writing

By: Ten Questions to Ask When You Are Offered A Writing Project

Ten Questions to Ask When You Are Offered A Writing Project — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 23:12:23 +0000

[...] at the Freelance Parent blog, Tamara Berry is discussing: What to Do When Your Project Outgrows the Agreement. It seems that Tamara recently found herself in a predicament that many writers (including yours [...]

By: Laura Spencer

Laura Spencer — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 00:54:03 +0000

Great tips here!

If it’s just a little bit of extra work, then I’d probably eat the extra time. (I think all of us do this from time to time.)

I think the question is really whether I underestimated the amount of work that the project required, or whether the client added additional requirements.

In the first case, I would try to honor the original agreement – but, I would definitely let the client know when I turned the project in that it was much more work than I/they had realized.

In the second case, I would point out our original discussions to show them that the scope of work had changes. I would than ask for more money.

Laura Spencer’s last blog post..Blog Carnival Reading List For WAHMs

By: James Chartrand - Men with Pens

James Chartrand - Men with Pens — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 00:43:33 +0000

Scope creep is inherent in our business. Everyone wants less for more. A good way to put a halt to creeping scope when it begins to happen (or when you notice it’s already happening) is to give notice.

“I’d be happy to make these changes, but if you’ll require additional changes after this round, we’ll be into billable time. I just wanted to give you a heads up.”

Give them a chance to say aye or nay. Give them fair warning that you’ll be charging extra – soon. Don’t flat out put your foot down and draw the line if you haven’t been fair about letting the client know what’s happening – often, they don’t realize they’re creeping on scope or that they’re breaching the agreement.

James Chartrand – Men with Pens’s last blog post..How to Track Time Without Wasting a Minute

By: Genesis

Genesis — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 21:26:14 +0000

That´s a tough one, I´m glad your situation worked out. There have been a few times when this happened to me. Most of the time, I opted for the “chalk it up to experience” route, but once it just went so drastically over the guesstimate that it just wasn´t worth it anymore. The information had been changed on me, requiring a LOT more work and the client wasn´t willing to pay more, so I ended up dropping the job. Thankfully, she paid me for the work I had already done, instead of refusing to pay for an unfinished job, which often happens.