New client, six week engagement, and in the two scoping calls so far they've changed the core requirement twice. They're not difficult, they're just early and figuring it out as they go. My instinct says hourly because I can't estimate a moving target, but they've asked for a fixed number so they can get it approved internally. Is there a structure that serves both, and what would you avoid?
Sell them a fixed price block of time rather than a fixed scope. Six weeks at two days a week, invoiced monthly, with a written list of what you expect to accomplish that's explicitly a plan and not a promise. They get one number for their approval process, you get paid for direction changes instead of eating them. I've run this with three clients who couldn't hold a spec still and it removed every argument we would otherwise have had.
A fixed capacity retainer rather than a fixed deliverable. That does solve both sides, thank you.
Make sure the wording in the contract says capacity, not outcome, or you've just written a fixed price contract with extra steps.
Also ask what number they need for the approval. Sometimes there's a threshold, like anything under 15k doesn't need sign-off, and knowing that shapes how you structure the whole thing.
Avoid fixed price with unlimited revisions, obviously, but also avoid pure hourly with this type of client, because every time they change their mind they'll see the cost of it on your next invoice and start second-guessing whether to tell you things. That gets you worse information, which is the actual danger.
If you must give a fixed number, price the chaos in. My rule is a 40% uplift on any fixed quote where the client has changed the brief before the work started, because they will change it again and the only question is who pays for it. If they balk at the number, that's useful information about how much they value their own indecision.
40% sounds high until you've done two of these. I use a similar buffer and I've never once ended a project wishing I'd quoted less.
@wren_oyelaran · 5mo ago
Whichever you choose, define a decision deadline in writing. Something like 'requirements for each two week block are locked on the Friday before it starts, changes after that move into the next block'. Gives them freedom to be early-stage without it costing you the schedule.
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