The Scope Creep Survival Kit

SCOPE OF WORK

Project: [Project name]
Client: [Client legal entity name]
Supplier: [Your name or studio name]
Prepared: [2026-01-02]  ·  Version: [1.0]
Valid for acceptance until: [2026-01-16]

1. OBJECTIVE
[Client] needs [one or two sentences describing the business outcome in
the client's own words — e.g. "a marketing site that explains the new
product line and lets the sales team publish case studies without a
developer"]. This scope covers the work required to deliver that, at the
fee and on the timeline set out below.

2. DELIVERABLES
2.1 [Deliverable one — e.g. Information architecture: a sitemap covering
    up to 14 pages, plus page-level content outlines for the 6 core
    pages. Delivered as a shared document.]
2.2 [Deliverable two — e.g. Visual design: desktop and mobile designs
    for 6 unique page templates, delivered as a Figma file with a
    component library and a one-page style summary.]
2.3 [Deliverable three — e.g. Build: the 6 templates implemented,
    responsive at 3 breakpoints, tested on the browsers listed in 6.2,
    deployed to staging and then to production.]
2.4 [Deliverable four — e.g. Handover: a 60-minute recorded walkthrough
    and a 4-page written guide for the client's editors.]

3. NOT INCLUDED IN THIS SCOPE
The following are deliberately excluded. Any of them can be added by
change order (section 8) at the rates in section 7.
3.1 [Copywriting. Final copy is supplied by [Client] by [date].]
3.2 [Photography, illustration, and video production.]
3.3 [Content entry beyond the [6] example pages built during the project.]
3.4 [Hosting, domains, third-party subscriptions, and their renewals.]
3.5 [Ongoing maintenance, updates, and support after the warranty period
    in section 9.]
3.6 [Integrations with [systems not named in 2.x], migrations of legacy
    data, and accessibility remediation of content supplied by [Client].]
3.7 [Search rankings, traffic, conversion, or any other outcome that
    depends on factors outside the delivered work.]

4. REVISIONS
4.1 [Two] rounds of revisions are included for each deliverable in
    section 2.
4.2 A round means one consolidated set of written feedback from
    [Client], gathering the comments of every reviewer, returned within
    [5] business days of delivery.
4.3 Feedback that arrives after a round has been actioned, or that
    reverses a decision already approved, begins the next round.
4.4 Additional rounds are billed at $[350.00] each, quoted and approved
    in writing before the work starts.
4.5 A change of direction — new objective, new audience, a materially
    different concept after approval — is not a revision. It is a change
    order under section 8.

5. ACCEPTANCE
5.1 Each deliverable is submitted for review with a written note of what
    is being submitted and against which criteria.
5.2 A deliverable is accepted when [Client] confirms in writing that it
    matches this scope, or when [5] business days pass without written
    notice of a specific, scope-based defect.
5.3 Rejection must identify the specific requirement in section 2 that
    has not been met. Preference-based comments are handled as revisions
    under section 4.
5.4 Acceptance of a deliverable releases the corresponding payment in
    section 7 and closes that deliverable to further no-charge changes.

6. ASSUMPTIONS AND CLIENT RESPONSIBILITIES
6.1 [Client] names one approver, [name], who consolidates feedback and
    can sign off on behalf of the business.
6.2 [Supported browsers and devices: the current and previous major
    versions of Chrome, Safari, Firefox, and Edge, on desktop and iOS
    and Android phones.]
6.3 [Client] provides by [date]: brand assets and fonts (with licences),
    final copy, access to [systems], and any required approvals.
6.4 If a [Client] dependency is late, the schedule in section 9 moves by
    at least the length of the delay. Where a delay exceeds [10]
    business days, re-booking time may attract the rates in section 7.
6.5 Work is performed remotely during [Mon–Fri, 9:00–17:00, timezone].

7. FEES AND PAYMENT SCHEDULE
7.1 Total fee: $[15,000.00], fixed for the scope described above.
7.2 Schedule:
    · $[5,000.00] deposit, due before work starts. Non-refundable.
    · $[5,000.00] on acceptance of [deliverable 2.2].
    · $[5,000.00] on acceptance of [deliverable 2.4].
7.3 Hourly rate for approved additional work: $[125.00].
7.4 Payment terms: Net [14] from invoice date. Overdue amounts accrue
    interest at [1.5]% per month or the maximum permitted by law in
    [jurisdiction], whichever is lower.
7.5 Expenses over $[100.00] are approved in writing in advance and
    billed at cost with receipts.

8. CHANGES TO THIS SCOPE
8.1 Either party can propose a change at any time.
8.2 [Supplier] responds with a written change order stating what changes,
    the effect on the fee, and the effect on the dates.
8.3 No work on a change begins until the change order is approved in
    writing by [Client]'s named approver.
8.4 Nothing in this section obliges either party to accept a change.

9. TIMELINE
    Kick-off                    [2026-01-12]
    [Deliverable 2.1] delivered [2026-01-23]
    [Deliverable 2.2] delivered [2026-02-13]
    [Deliverable 2.3] delivered [2026-03-06]
    Launch and handover         [2026-03-13]
    Warranty period ends        [2026-04-12] — [30] days after launch,
    covering defects where the delivered work does not do what this
    scope says it does.

10. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
Ownership of the final delivered work passes to [Client] on payment in
full. Concepts not selected, and [Supplier]'s pre-existing tools,
templates, and know-how, remain [Supplier]'s property. Third-party
assets stay under their own licences.

11. ACCEPTANCE OF THIS SCOPE
Signing below approves the deliverables, exclusions, fee, and schedule
above, and authorises work to begin.

[Client]                          [Supplier]
Name: ______________________      Name: ______________________
Title: _____________________      Title: _____________________
Signature: _________________      Signature: _________________
Date: ______________________      Date: ______________________

CHANGE ORDER

Change order number:  [001]
Project:              [Project name]
Original scope dated: [Date]
Between:              [Your name or studio] and [Client name]
Date:                 [Today's date]

1. WHAT IS CHANGING

[Describe the request in the client's words first, then in yours. "You asked
for a second homepage concept in a different visual direction."]

2. WHY THIS IS A CHANGE AND NOT A REVISION

[Point at the clause. "Clause 2.1 of the scope dated 3 March covers one
homepage concept with two revision rounds. A second concept is new work, not a
revision of the first." Naming the clause is what keeps this from being an
argument about who is being reasonable.]

3. EFFECT ON DELIVERABLES

  Added:     [New deliverable, with format and quantity]
  Removed:   [Anything being dropped to pay for it — often nothing]
  Unchanged: Everything else in the original scope stands.

4. EFFECT ON TIMELINE

  [+X] business days.
  Revised final delivery: [new date].

[If this pushes the work past a fixed launch date, say so here in one sentence.
The client would rather read it now than find out in week six.]

5. EFFECT ON FEE

  Additional fee:        [$X] — [X hours at $Y] / [fixed price]
  Invoiced:              [with the next scheduled invoice / on approval of
                         this change order, payable within 14 days]
  Revised project total: [$X]

6. EVERYTHING ELSE STANDS

This change order alters the scope dated [date] only as set out above. All
other terms — revision rounds, payment schedule, ownership, cancellation —
continue unchanged.

7. APPROVAL

Work on this change begins when both parties have approved below. Until then
the original scope is what is being built.

Client:   ________________________________  Date: ______________
          [Name, title]

Supplier: ________________________________  Date: ______________
          [Your name]

REVISION POLICY

This policy forms part of the scope of work dated [date] and applies to every
deliverable in it.

1. WHAT A ROUND IS

A revision round is one set of written feedback, sent once, covering
everything you want changed on that deliverable. Feedback from every
stakeholder is collected and reconciled on your side before it reaches me. If
two people on your team disagree, that gets settled before the feedback is
sent, not after I have built both versions.

2. WHAT IS INCLUDED

[2] rounds per deliverable. Typical round-one feedback: copy edits, colour and
type adjustments, layout changes within the agreed structure, swapping an
image, resizing an element.

3. WHAT IS NOT A REVISION

These are new work and need a change order, however small they look:

  - A new direction, concept or layout after one was approved
  - Reopening anything approved in writing in an earlier round
  - New pages, screens, formats, sizes or language versions
  - Changes caused by content supplied late, or changed after approval
  - Changes requested by someone outside the approval chain in clause 8 of
    the scope of work

4. FEEDBACK WINDOW

Feedback is due within [3] business days of each presentation, because the
work either side of it is scheduled around that window. Later feedback is
still welcome; the remaining dates simply move by the number of business days
it was late.

5. FEEDBACK THAT ARRIVES IN PIECES

A note on Monday, three more on Tuesday and a phone call on Wednesday is not
one round. The first consolidated set is round one. Anything after it that
would mean reopening finished work starts the next round.

6. ROUNDS BEYOND THE INCLUDED [2]

[$X] each, agreed in writing before I start. I will tell you when a request
would use your last included round before I do the work, so the decision is
yours rather than a surprise at the bottom of an invoice.

7. APPROVAL IS FINAL

Written approval closes a deliverable. Reopening a closed deliverable is new
work under clause 3.

8. WHY THIS EXISTS

Not to be difficult. Unlimited revisions make the true price of a project
unknowable for both of us, and the person who absorbs that uncertainty is
whoever is cheapest to squeeze. A defined number of rounds means you know what
you are buying and I know what I am selling.

KILL FEE AND CANCELLATION CLAUSE

Paste this into your contract, or attach it to the scope of work as an
addendum. The numbering assumes it sits inside a longer agreement — renumber
to fit yours.

X. CANCELLATION AND KILL FEE

X.1  Either party may terminate this agreement at any time on written notice.

X.2  Where the Client terminates, the Client pays:
     (a) the deposit, which is non-refundable in all cases;
     (b) all work completed up to the date of notice; and
     (c) a kill fee, set by the stage the project has reached at that date:

         Stage reached at notice                    Kill fee
         -----------------------------------------  --------------------
         Before kickoff, more than 14 days out      Deposit only
         Before kickoff, within 14 days             25% of the total fee
         After kickoff, before first presentation   50% of the total fee
         After first presentation                   75% of the total fee
         After final files are delivered            100% of the total fee

X.3  The kill fee is not a penalty. It covers working time reserved for this
     project and turned away from other clients, which cannot be resold at
     short notice.

X.4  Where the Supplier terminates for any reason other than the Client's
     breach, the Client owes only work completed to the date of notice, and
     the deposit is credited against that amount.

X.5  Work completed is billed at [$X] per hour against a written record of
     hours, or as the percentage of scoped deliverables completed, whichever
     the parties agree in writing. Absent agreement, the hourly record governs.

X.6  DORMANT PROJECTS. If the Client does not supply materials, feedback or
     approvals for [30] consecutive days, the Supplier may treat the project as
     cancelled by the Client on written notice, and clause X.2 applies.
     Restarting after that point is a new engagement at then-current rates.

X.7  On termination, ownership of delivered work transfers only once every
     amount owed under this clause is paid. Until then the Supplier retains all
     rights and the Client may not use, publish or adapt the work.

X.8  Termination does not affect amounts already invoiced and due.

Final invoices under this clause are payable within [14] days of the date of
notice.

WHAT TO SAY WHEN THE ASK ARRIVES

The documents only work if you use them out loud. Five scripts, all short,
none of them adversarial.

1. THE SMALL ASK

   "Happy to do that. It's outside clause 2 of the scope, so I'll send a
   change order — looks like about [$X] and [two] extra days. Want me to?"

   You said yes. You attached a number. The client now decides whether they
   want it enough, which is the decision they should have been making all
   along.

2. THE REOPENED DECISION

   "We locked the navigation in round one and built the rest on top of it.
   Changing it now means redoing [X] and [Y] — that's a change order rather
   than a revision. Do you want me to price it?"

3. FEEDBACK ARRIVING IN PIECES

   "Let's collect these into one set so I only touch the file once. Send
   everything by [Thursday] and I'll treat it as round two."

4. THE CLIENT WHO HAS GONE QUIET

   "Checking in on [project]. I've got your slot held through [date]; after
   [30] days of no feedback the cancellation clause kicks in and restarting
   would be a new quote. Are we still on for [date]?"

5. THE NEW STAKEHOLDER IN WEEK SIX

   "Glad to have [name]'s input. The direction was approved on [date], so
   changes from here go through a change order — happy to price whichever of
   these you want to keep."

THE ONE HABIT

Send the change order for the small stuff too, even the ones you price at $0.
"No charge for this one — logging it so we both know where the scope stands."
Two of those and a client stops testing the edges, without a single
uncomfortable conversation.