Remember when we all thought charging a flat project fee was the only professional way to go?

After a client in Austin asked for a fixed price on a website redesign, I quoted $5,000, but the project ballooned with endless revisions and extra features, so I learned to always build a clear scope document and a per-hour rate for work outside it, right from the start.

3 comments

3 Comments

jamie_carter872mo ago

Scope creep kills flat fees every time. You have to lock down the exact features in writing before you even talk price. That hourly rate for extra work is your only real safety net.

barbarah192mo ago

Learned that the hard way too. My first flat fee project turned into a monster. Spent months on endless tiny changes for free. Now I see the point in what @diana_murphy said about building the relationship first. That weekly check-in idea is smart. Still, I need that hourly safety net in writing for my own sanity. My joke is I used to be a flat fee believer, now I'm just flat broke from scope creep.

diana_murphy2mo ago

Actually, locking everything down in a contract can backfire and make clients feel trapped. A better way is to build the relationship first, so they trust you when things change. For a recent logo project, we kept the fee flat but met weekly to check in. When they wanted to add social media graphics, we just talked it through and adjusted the plan together. That flexibility kept the project moving without a fight over hours.