How to tell a client something is out of scope
A client has asked for something that isn’t in the proposal. Below is the sort that tells you which reply to send, the email template for the common case, the lines to change depending on the situation, and the one habit that costs freelancers the most money.
Sort it before you write anything
Most out-of-scope emails go wrong in the first ten seconds, because the freelancer starts typing before deciding how big the request is. Decide the size first. There are three sizes and the test for each is mechanical.
| Size | Test | What you send |
|---|---|---|
| Tiny | Under 15 minutes, no judgment calls, no new assets, and fewer than three so far on this project | Do it. Say you did it. Log it on a running list of small extras so it isn’t invisible at the end. |
| Small | Fifteen minutes to about a day | Quote it inline, in the email you’re already writing. Price and new date in one sentence. Wait for a written yes. |
| Big | Over a day, or it changes what the project is | Change order, attached. Original work carries on to the original date; the new work waits for a signature. |
If you can’t tell small from big, it’s big. If you can’t tell tiny from small, it’s small. The failure mode is always guessing downward.
The email for the small bucket
This is the one you’ll use most: the project is underway and a new deliverable arrives in a sentence that begins with “oh, and.” Four beats — acknowledge, name the scope, price it with a date, ask for the go-ahead.
The template
Script 2 from the kit, unedited. Replace the brackets, delete what doesn’t apply, send.
Hi [Name], Happy to add [the pricing page / a second email template / the Spanish version]. That’s outside the scope we agreed in the proposal, so here’s what it looks like as an addition: • Work: [one-line description] • Cost: [$X] (fixed) / [Y hours at $Z/hr] • Timeline: adds [N days] to the current delivery date, so [new date] Reply “approved” and I’ll fold it in. If you’d rather keep to the original scope and timeline, that’s completely fine too. Just let me know. [Your name]
Slack or text version: “Can do. That’s an addition to the agreed scope: [$X], adds [N days] (new delivery [date]). Want me to go ahead? A quick ‘yes’ here is enough.”
Two details in there are doing most of the work. “That’s outside the scope we agreed in the proposal” points at a document instead of at the client, so there is nothing to take personally and nothing to argue with. And the last paragraph gives them a way to decline that isn’t a fight: keeping the original scope is offered as a normal choice, not as a threat.
What to change, by situation
The skeleton stays. These lines swap out:
- The project already shipped. Replace the scope line with the close date: “The project wrapped on [date], so anything new is a fresh piece of work.” Then add a retainer offer — post-launch drip requests are the easiest work you’ll ever bill.
- They think it was already included. Cite the section: “I checked the proposal and [X] wasn’t part of what we scoped — section 2 lists what was.” Add “totally understandable assumption, it’s a common add-on,” and mean it. They usually aren’t working an angle.
- It’s big. Delete the inline price. Say the size, attach the change order, and say the original work continues on its original date. A five-figure addition priced in a bullet list reads as unserious.
- The scope is genuinely fuzzy (“make it feel more premium”). Quote a range with a cap instead of a fixed number: “roughly 4–6 hours, capped at 8, at [rate].” Clients aren’t afraid of hourly. They’re afraid of uncapped.
- They want it fast. Add the rush line in the same email as the standard option, so they’re choosing between two prices rather than reacting to one.
One thing not to change: the minimum. Anything you price at all is a half day at your change rate. A “45-minute change” costs you the reading, the context reload, the doing, the testing, the sending, and the follow-up question. Four hours is closer to honest than forty-five minutes is.
The mistake that costs the most
Apologising before the number. “Unfortunately that would be an extra $400.” “I’m afraid I’d have to charge for that.” “I know budget is tight, but…” Every one of those tells the client the price is bad news you’re reluctantly delivering, and they will answer it as bad news — by negotiating, or by going quiet.
Write “Happy to. That’s $480, adds two days.” Then stop typing. The urge to add “but I’m flexible” or “let me know if that’s too much” is strong, and that sentence costs about 20% on every quote you send for the rest of your career. Put the number, ask a question that isn’t “is that okay?” (“Want me to go ahead?” works), sign your name.
If they say it’s too much: “Understood. What budget did you have in mind? I’ll tell you what fits in it.” Then cut scope, never rate.
Try it on the real email
Paste the client’s email
It reads what the client sent, matches it to one of the 14 situations, prices it with your change rate and the half-day minimum, and writes both the email and the chat version. Three a day, no signup, nothing stored.
Open the full tool in its own tab if the frame feels cramped.
The scripts, the change order template, the pricing rules and six proposal clauses that stop this happening next time are in the $12 kit.
The other three situations
- Client keeps asking for extra work: what to say
- Client wants more revisions than the contract says
- Client wants it by Friday 5pm: the rush-fee reply
Or read the three full scripts on the free page, or paste an email into the reply tool.
Questions
What do I say when the client insists it was always included?
Point at the document, not at their memory: “I checked the proposal and that wasn’t part of what we scoped — section 2 lists what was included.” Then price it as an addition in the same email and add that it’s a common assumption. Arguing about what was obvious never ends; a section number does.
Should I give a price in the first reply, or ask for a call?
Give a price if the request is under about a day of work. A call for a small addition costs both of you more than the addition is worth. Move to a call or a change order when the work runs over a day, when the scope is unknowable until you dig in, or when it changes what the project is.
Does this work if I never had a written contract?
It works, with one change: you can’t point at a section, so point at what you both agreed the job was — “when we started, the job was the five pages and the contact form.” Price the addition the same way. Then put a scope definition and a change order clause in the next proposal so the next one is easier.