Too many design revisions? How to charge for extra amends without losing clients

Calculate how much repeated revisions are costing your project

Start with a recent project and reconstruct the amendment work. Include reading comments, resolving contradictions, speaking to the client, reopening files, editing, checking and preparing replacement exports. Separate included revisions, your own corrections and additional requests so you can see what needs a pricing change and what needs a process change.

For an internal estimate, multiply revision hours by your internal hourly cost. Build that cost from your own business figures, with help from your bookkeeper or accountant where needed. Keep it separate from your client-facing selling rate: use the first to assess the cost of delivery and the second when pricing additional work.

Compare actual revision time with the allowance you used when quoting. If you did not make an allowance, use the record to build one into your next estimate. Treat this review as information for future decisions, not as permission to bill past work under newly introduced terms.

• Log the request, requester and relevant design stage.
• Record time spent reviewing, editing, checking and communicating.
• Mark whether the work was included, a correction or separately approved.
• Review where clearer briefing or feedback could have prevented rework.

Separate corrections, included amends and changes to the brief

Before discussing money, compare the request with the approved brief and your existing agreement. As a working policy, correct your own departures from agreed instructions without treating them as paid extras or using up the client's revision allowance. If the distinction is unclear, discuss it rather than immediately labelling the request out of scope.

Use included amends for refinements within the agreed direction and deliverables. Assess a different creative direction, an added deliverable or a request to revisit an approved stage separately. Do not use the size of an edit alone to decide: ask whether it fits the agreement.

Where your original scope was vague, acknowledge that. Agree how to handle the remaining work and introduce clearer boundaries for future requests. Do not present a new revision policy as something the client had already accepted.

Define a revision round and ask for consolidated feedback

Define a round in your proposal as a consolidated set of client comments on a specified presentation, followed by your agreed changes and resubmission. State which deliverables and design stage it covers. Choose an allowance that suits the project rather than promising an undefined amount of tweaking.

Ask the client to nominate someone who gathers stakeholder feedback and confirms the final instructions. Request a single agreed list, with comments tied to a page, screen or artwork version. Where comments conflict, ask for a decision before editing rather than trying to satisfy both.

Explain how you will handle comments that arrive after editing starts. For example, propose collecting them for the next available round, unless you agree otherwise. Keep corrections of your own mistakes separate, and agree approval stages so both sides know when a direction is ready to move forward.

Choose an hourly rate, fixed fee or prepaid block for extra amends

Choose the charging method before restarting the work. Use your own costs, expected effort and business requirements to set the price rather than assuming there is a standard UK revision rate. State the amount in GBP and make clear whether any applicable VAT is included or additional; ask your accountant if you are unsure about tax treatment.

For hourly work, provide an estimate and agree a spending limit, with a further approval point before exceeding it. For a fixed fee, list the exact changes, deliverables and any feedback allowance covered. For a prepaid block, explain how you will record time, report the balance and handle unused time, expiry or refunds before the client buys.

Offer only the options that genuinely suit the request. If the client has a firm budget, discuss a smaller set of changes rather than agreeing an open-ended revision cycle for a reduced fee.

Explain the extra cost and get approval before restarting work

Keep the conversation about the requested work, not about whether the client is being difficult. Acknowledge what they want, identify the relevant boundary in your agreement and explain the proposed fee and timing. If the boundary was never agreed, say you would like to agree a way forward rather than claiming an automatic entitlement to charge.

Suggested wording to adapt where the original scope is clear: “Happy to help with this. The new direction sits outside the agreed scope, so I suggest treating it as an additional piece of work. I can complete [changes] for [fee], with delivery by [date], subject to approval and availability. Alternatively, we can keep the current scope and proceed with [included work]. Please confirm which option you approve before I start.”

Wait for explicit written approval of the scope, price and revised timing from the authorised client contact. Keep that approval with the agreed change description. Do not complete the work first and introduce the fee afterwards. If the client declines, discuss keeping the agreed scope or reducing the proposed extra work.

1. 1Summarise the requested change and check the existing agreement.
2. 2Set out the additional work, fee and proposed delivery timing.
3. 3Offer a practical alternative within the existing scope where possible.
4. 4Get written approval before beginning the additional work.

Add clear revision limits and approval stages to your next quote

Place the revision allowance beside the deliverables and price, where the client can review it before accepting. Specify the included rounds for each stage, the meaning of a round, who approves work and how you will price additional requests. Avoid relying on a vague phrase such as “reasonable revisions”.

Suggested proposal wording to adapt: “The fee includes [allowance] consolidated revision rounds at [stages], within the agreed brief. Please submit feedback through [named approver]. We will assess requests beyond this allowance or changes to approved scope separately and agree any additional fee and delivery timing in writing before starting. Corrections of our own errors do not use this allowance.”

Walk through the process before work begins and ask whether other stakeholders need to approve the design. Use the discussion to resolve uncertainty about direction, copy and sign-off. This wording is a starting point for a business conversation, not a substitute for professionally reviewed terms; ask an adviser to check it against your circumstances.

• Name the deliverables and exclusions.
• Specify the revision allowance at each stage.
• Define consolidated feedback and the client approver.
• Explain how changes to approved work will be assessed.
• Require agreement on extra scope, price and timing before work starts.

How Proposals helps

Use HappyNoodle Proposals to present the design scope and price for clients to review and approve online. When preparing your proposal, spell out the included revision rounds, feedback process and approval stages alongside the deliverables. If a client requests additional work, define that scope and price before putting it forward for approval; offer a smaller alternative where useful. This gives you a practical way to ask for a clear decision before editing, rather than introducing an unexpected fee after delivery.