Anyone who has ever added a bathroom to her house or updated a kitchen knows that she will have to pay something when she changes from red tiles to blue tiles. Even if the tiles haven’t been ordered, most contractors let you know that “changes cost money.” At a minimum, the contractor has to change the order. He may have a hard time getting the new color, or it may not arrive on time. These are all risks that have to be taken into account. He ought to be compensated for that.
Scope creep is the most insidious form of a change, and it happens all the time. You have a big job. The client says, “Would you mind just doing this one little thing?” It sounds sort of like when you’re at home and your spouse calls out, “While you are up, can you get ----?” Typically, you’re happy to do it at home, and you’re happy to do it on a job site. The difference is that at home, you will be back in bed or back at the dinner table and that is the end of it. And sometime in the not-too-distant future, you will want to make the same request of your spouse.
At work, it’s usually a one-way request and once it starts, it doesn’t just stop there. Over time, you have done a lot of extra uncompensated work. Most companies have a policy to control this. If your company does not, install one now. At the very least, be sure that the customer is aware that he has been given something for free. You can do this a number ways. One is just to drop him a note saying that you were happy that you were able to do what he asked, and you wanted to let him know that there would be no charge for it. You put that in the job file, and that way you can keep track of these little extras. They tend to add up, but you forget all about them if you don’t make a note of them.
Scope creep is the most insidious form of a change, and it happens all the time. You have a big job. The client says, “Would you mind just doing this one little thing?” It sounds sort of like when you’re at home and your spouse calls out, “While you are up, can you get ----?” Typically, you’re happy to do it at home, and you’re happy to do it on a job site. The difference is that at home, you will be back in bed or back at the dinner table and that is the end of it. And sometime in the not-too-distant future, you will want to make the same request of your spouse.
At work, it’s usually a one-way request and once it starts, it doesn’t just stop there. Over time, you have done a lot of extra uncompensated work. Most companies have a policy to control this. If your company does not, install one now. At the very least, be sure that the customer is aware that he has been given something for free. You can do this a number ways. One is just to drop him a note saying that you were happy that you were able to do what he asked, and you wanted to let him know that there would be no charge for it. You put that in the job file, and that way you can keep track of these little extras. They tend to add up, but you forget all about them if you don’t make a note of them.
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