Scope creep is (mostly) your fault

Hot take: most scope creep happens because we let it.

I used to blame clients. “They keep adding things!” “They don’t respect the contract!” “They’re taking advantage of me!”

And sometimes that’s true. Some clients are genuinely unreasonable.

But looking back at my worst scope creep disasters, I can trace most of them to something I did — or didn’t do — at the start.

The vague proposal

Early in my freelance career, I wrote proposals like:

“Website redesign: $5,000”

That’s it. No details about what “redesign” included. How many pages? Custom illustrations? Content writing? Mobile version?

When the client asked for a blog, I had no leg to stand on. “Redesign” could mean anything. I’d basically given them a blank check and then complained when they cashed it.

Now I list everything. What’s included. What’s not included. What costs extra if they want it later. It takes longer to write, but it saves weeks of negotiation down the road.

The “sure, that’s easy” trap

Client: “Hey, while you’re in there, can you also add a newsletter signup?”

Me: “Sure, that’s easy.”

Ten hours later, I’m still wrestling with Mailchimp integrations, popup timing, mobile styling, and GDPR compliance. “Easy.”

I’ve learned that nothing is as easy as it sounds when a client asks for it. The answer to “can you add X?” should be “let me think about what that involves and get back to you.”

Not getting signoff

I’d make changes, show them to the client, they’d nod, and I’d keep going.

Then at the end: “Wait, I don’t remember agreeing to that. Can we try a different approach?”

Now, anything significant gets explicit written approval before I move on. An email reply saying “looks good, proceed” is enough. I just need something to point to later.

The slow yes

This is subtle. A client asks for something small. You don’t want to seem difficult, so you say yes. They ask for another small thing. Yes again. And again.

Each request seems minor. But they add up. By the end, you’ve done 30% more work than you scoped for, and you never pushed back on any of it.

Learning to say “yes, and here’s what that costs” is a skill. It feels uncomfortable at first. But clients actually respect it — it shows you value your own time.

The project from hell

Two years ago, I had a project that ballooned from a 4-week timeline to 4 months. The scope tripled. I barely broke even.

When I did the postmortem, every single problem traced back to the kickoff:

• Vague scope
• No change request process
• No written approvals
• No clear boundaries

The client wasn’t evil. They were just doing what people do when there are no guardrails.

I built the guardrails wrong. That was on me.

---

A good intake process catches scope issues early. equest helps you collect everything upfront, so there are fewer surprises later.