Freelancers and agencies: how do you handle "just one small change" after a client has signed off?
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Something I keep running into: the work gets approved, everyone's happy, and then a week later comes "can we just tweak one small thing?" Then another. None of them are big on their own, but together they quietly eat the margin on the project.
I'm curious how others deal with it:
Do you include a set number of revision rounds in the original scope, or handle each request as it comes?
Is there a point where you start quoting post-approval changes as new work, and how do you say that without souring the relationship?
Does writing down exactly what was approved (and when) actually help, or do clients just ignore it?
Would love to hear what's worked for you, and what backfired.
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I think we've all seen how that goes if its not well documented and communicated up front. I usually set a scope within the agrement, with the option to be flexible given the situation. I always count the rounds and provide a list of what changes in each round. The goal is to have fewer changes each round and only reflecting what was added or changed in the previous. If they start finding stuff that wasnt caught before, thats when I consider it new work or
Client service comes first and they need to be happy with the relationship, but clear expectations and guardrails are mandatory to prevent misunderstanding or scope creep.