by Leo Wiles
19 July 2017
Eek! I actually think that’s super cheeky. And if the brief was good enough there should be no wriggle room for a never ending stream of revisions, with no end in sight. Not only does it get in the way of your current workload, scope creep also eats into the fee you’ve already been paid way back when you did it!
Which is why I’m a staunch believer in a project’s expiry date. Only this week I was emailed by a client asking for some changes to her corporate portrait that I shot for her over a year ago. Very calmly I said I would be delighted to make the necessary changes, at a cost of $125 per hour. This made it very clear that I had delivered the expected work for the initial fee and that these additional changes were outside the scope of our contract.
If I were you, I would go back to the client and say that further changes are outside the scope of the initial contract, offer to change the copy if they want you to but it will be subject to new fees. I’d bet they will go away.
Moving forward, I would ensure you know exactly what clients want from the get-go (if you don’t do that already) by making them fill out a questionnaire and then ensuring all parameters of the project are approved before the contract is signed. If you don’t understand what the client wants, ask for written clarification.
Make it clear that you are prepared to offer two rounds of changes (the number of rounds will depend on the complexity of the work), which may push back their deadline, but additional revision fees apply after that. Oh, and ensure you have a condition in your contract that prevents this kind of thing from happening. The more professional and specific you are in your communication from the outset, the better it will go for you. I always thank a client for their commission and send them a booking form, outlaying exactly what it is that we have agreed upon and 50 percent upfront. This is a good lesson for you in perhaps stipulating exactly what the contract they’re signing entails.
Have you ever had a client return and demand free changes long after the last invoice was paid?
Even worse is the editor that accepts your work, says you will be paid 60 days after the date of publication, sits on it for 6 months, decides to rejig the magazine, then asks you when the story has long since departed from your brain to rewrite it. I don’t like those ones!
The worst. The absolute worst! I once waited a year for a story to run and they came back and asked for changes just before it ran. I was like, wha…? 🙂