: Advice on re-quoting a client for a freelance project I took on a graphic design job recently and I quoted the client for 36 hours of work. About half way through the project the client got

@Speyer780

This time: Pekka's answer is good.

Next time: Pay attention to how many hours you're putting in. As you approach the estimate mark, you send a note to the client, saying "Hey, I quoted you for 36 hours, which was to cover services X, Y, Z, A, and B. We're only done X and part of Y, and I'm up to 30 hours already. I'm happy to continue working with you through the completion of the project, but I don't want to sock you with a surprise bill. I can work up a new quote for you based on the progress we've made so far, or I can just bill you at $X hourly rate. How would you like to proceed?"

This shows the client:


you're paying attention to the
client's bottom line as well as your
own
you're willing to be flexible about
payment BUT you're also not going to
let yourself get railroaded
you're considerate enough to give
them wiggle room before the monetary
deadline, so they have room to
renegotiate on their own side


If the client asks "how did we end up with so many hours?" then you give them the breakdown as Pekka outlined.

In this case, it's easier to get permission than forgiveness.

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@Goswami567

Or should I re-quote them and if so, how should I go about doing that?


If it's squarely their fault, I would absolutely re-quote them. Everything else would create a bad precedent for how additional time is dealt with in the jobs to come.

The more detailed documentation you can provide along with the re-quote, the better. A work log like this (pulling this out of my arse)


Additional task exceeding the agreed scope: Changed overall colour palette to green; changed agreed photograph against one of a cute puppy; additional time to rebuild and re-render print version (requested by Matt February 2nd) 1,5 hours on February 3rd
Additional task exceeding the agreed scope: Enlarged title font after pre-production on special request; changed font to Zurich Sans; additional re-build, re-render and re-send (requested by Peter February 4th) 3,5 hours on February 6th


will make it crystal clear how the additional time came about. (Adjust the wording, of course, but you see what I mean.)

As to whether you want to re-quote the full amount or only a part... If they are clearly at fault for the additional time, it's perfectly within your rights to charge the full amount. If there are ambiguities (like you miscalculated out of inexperience, or delivered late at some stage of the project, etc.) you can always bill a reduced amount - just make sure they see the friendly gesture, e.g. by calculating the full amount on the bill, and then deducting what you want to give them.

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