| You know, I love web design.
I love building sites for clients. I love being self employed
and meeting new people and taking on new challenges daily.
This is the very reason why I quit my unfulfilling full time
job and decided to start my own web design business.
But one thing that really annoys me as a freelance web designer
is - change requests!
Have you ever experienced a client that does
nothing but make your job harder by demanding continual, and
at times, silly or pointless change requests? They might call
at 10 o'clock at night and ask you to move their logo up 2
pixels, or change the background color to light blue instead
of beige. For whatever the reason, it sure is annoying, and
something that needs to be addressed, ahead of taking on the
project. To an extent, its about educating the client.
Change requests, apart from wasting your time, can lead to
scope creep. This can cause you to work tirelessly in circles,
in a never ending whirlpool of problems. The end of the project
just seems to become further and further away with each and
every modification. And what started out as a 3 week job,
is now blowing out to 4 months!
What then, can you do to prevent clients making ongoing change
requests? The answer lies in your contracts, and agreements.
It is absolutely vital that you address change requests in
your web design contract, which the client must sign off on
before starting the project. In this web design business startup
kit, I include a comprehensive web contract template that
covers change requests in detail.
It reads as follows....
Section 24, page 8. Change Requests.
Developer prides itself in providing excellent
customer service. That is the spirit of our agreement and
the spirit of the Developer's business. To that end, we encourage
input from the Client during the design process. The Developer
understands, however, that Clients may request significant
design changes to pages that have already been built to the
Client's specification. To that end, please note that our
agreement does not include a provision for "significant
page modification" or creation of additional pages in
excess of our agreed proposal. If significant page modification
is requested after a page has been built to the Clients specification,
we must count it as extra design work.
Some examples of significant page modification at the request
of the Client include:
- Developing a new table or layer structure to accommodate
a substantial redesign at the Client's request.
- Recreating or significantly modifying the company
header / logo graphic at the Client's request.
- Replacing more than 75% of the text to any given page
at the Client's request.
- Creating a new navigation structure or changing the
link graphics at the Clients request.
- Significantly reconfiguring the Client's shopping
cart with new product, shipping or discount calculation
if an e-commerce enabled site has been selected by the Client.
Clients who anticipate frequently changing the look of their
site during the design process and Clients who desire to be
intricately involved in the design of each page are encouraged
to negotiate an agreement which exceeds the scope of the original
proposal. If significant page modification is requested by the
Client after the page maximum has been reached the charge will
be $200.00 for each additional page. Moderate changes and small
alterations, however, will always be covered during the development
of the site and also covered by our one month of free maintenance.
Again, we strive to accommodate the needs of each Client and
we maintain a liberal redesign policy. We can not, however,
provide major redevelopment services in excess of the page maximum
contemplated by this agreement.
As you can see, this at the very least puts it into the head
of the client that....
a) Timeframes will be affected if they make constant changes,
and
b) Additional charges will be implemented should they do so.
But is this really enough?
How is it possible to address a "quick change" as
opposed to an actual "change request"?
The answer is simple -- have the client sign off on a change
request form!
This way, you are formally addressing the change and making
the client aware that you have no intention of just "doing
it quickly" without being paid for your extra time.
What I have below is a change request document template. This
is quite useful when dealing with annoying clients who cant
make up their minds! Believe me, you need this contract!
To download the document and begin using it straight away, click
on the link and select "save target as"
In summary, always be sure to always inform your clients that
constant change requests will invoke additional fees and delay
the overall progress of site completion.
Best of luck to you.
John
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