Client keeps adding extra work — what should the contract say?

It should say that extra work is a written, signed change, with a new fee and new dates, and that you do not start the extra until that change is signed. That is change control. Without it, a Slack “can you just…” becomes an unpaid ninth page.

Scope creep is not a personality clash. It is a missing process. The original statement of work named a job. The new ask is a different job. Put the two next to each other and price the gap.

A working clause answers four questions:

• how a change is requested
• how you reply with fee and timetable
• when the change becomes part of the contract
• what happens if you already did the extra on a verbal yes

How to write a contract is the general page. This one is the extra-work page.

Only if the variation clausevariation clauseA variation clause says how the signed contract can be changed. In England and Wales, if the clause requires changes to be in writing and signed, an oral variation is not effective: Rock Advertising Ltd v MWB Business Exchange Centres Ltd [2018] UKSC 24. The usual commercial form is a no-oral-modification line.More in the glossary allows it. In England and Wales, where a contract says a variationaddendumAn addendum is a short, written change to an existing contract, signed by both sides so the original terms stay the same except for what the addendum updates.More in the glossary must be in writing and signed by or on behalf of the parties, an oral variation is not effective. The parties bound themselves to that method, and the court gives effect to it. That is the rule in Rock Advertising Ltd v MWB Business Exchange Centres Ltd.

So: if your paper says “no oral variation,” a spoken yes in a stand-up does not rewrite the scope. An email may count as writing; whether it counts as a signature depends on the clause you signed. The clean path is an agreed edit on one shared link, then e-signe-signatureAn e-signature is any electronic way of showing agreement to a document, such as a typed name, a drawn signature or a click.More in the glossary. See variation clause and entire agreement.

US deals often use a similar “amendments in writing” sentence. Check the governing lawgoverning lawGoverning law is the legal system the parties choose to interpret their contract and decide disputes about it.More in the glossary you named. We do not invent a state statute here.

None of this stops you being kind. It stops a kindness turning into a free rebuild. If you want to do a small extra at no charge, write “no extra fee” on the change and sign it anyway, so the next extra has a process.

Reply with three numbers: extra fee, extra days, and what is now out of the original delivery if something has to move. Do not start the extra while those numbers are still in a chat.

A change request worth signing names:

• the extra or reduced scope
• the effect on the fee, including a depositdepositA deposit is money paid up front, before the main work or the final invoice.More in the glossary or a milestonemilestoneA milestone is a defined point in a project, often tied to a deliverable and a payment.More in the glossary if the extra is large
• the effect on dates
• any change to IP or the revision limit
• that it is signed by both sides

A change order or addendum edits the current job. A new statement of work is the right tool when it is a new job under the same standing services agreement. Say which paper wins if they disagree.

Example

If either party wants to change the Services, it will send a written change request. The Freelancer will, within 5 business days, set out the effect on fees, timetable and deliverables. A change is effective only when both parties have signed it. The Freelancer is not obliged to start extra work, and the Client is not obliged to pay extra fees, until that signature. No oral variation of this agreement is effective.

In Plain English: they write the ask, you write the price and the dates, both of you sign, then the extra starts. A chat message does not rewrite the job.

The change control clause page has the same shape for a services paper.

Invoice the original job on its own terms, and send a change for the extra with a fee. If they refuse to sign the change, you are chasing payment for work the paper may not describe. That is a worse position than pausing.

Say, in writing:

• the original scope is what you signed
• the extra was done at their request, and here is the proposed fee
• further extra waits on a signed change

If they pay the extra, you still want the change on paper so the next extra has a process. If they do not pay, treat it as an unpaid invoice for the original job plus a disputed extra. Client won't pay a freelance invoice is the chase page. Do not mix a without-prejudice offer into the open invoice email.

Prevention is the cheaper move. The next job starts with change control already in the freelancer agreement or website-build contract.

A revision limitrevision limitA revision limit says how many rounds of changes are included in the fee before extra work is quoted.More in the glossary is not change control. Revisions polish what you already agreed. A change adds something that was never in the scope. Mixing the two is how a “third round of amends” becomes a new feature at no fee.

Write both:

• two or three rounds of amends on the agreed deliverable, then a fee per extra round
• any new page, feature, shoot or audience as a signed change

If the client is redlining the revision limit down to “unlimited,” that is a price issue, not a courtesy. See Your client redlined your contract.

Website and design jobs feel this first. A website build or graphic design contract should list pages, breakpoints and what “done” looks like, then point extras at change control. Consulting jobs should list days, then treat extra days as a change — see How to write a consulting agreement.

On Contracts.io the change lives on the same contract as the original job. Both sides edit one link. The extra fee and the new date are a signed version, not a second PDF in a different thread. Lex can draft the change-control sentence into a freelancer agreement or statement of work from one sentence.

The client opens the link free, without an account. They can Accept, Counter or Decline. Then you both e-sign. The other side never pays.

That does not stop a client asking. It does mean the answer is a priced change instead of a silent rebuild. Start from the AI contract generator or the contract generator. Free £0, then paid plans from £15 a month — see /pricing.

Try it on contracts.io: put the extra on the same contract, price it, and e-sign the change before you start it.