The Price of an Unwritten Change

Mina is halfway through a four-page leaflet when Jon sends a message: “Could we make room for the new programme too?” Attached is enough text for eight additional pages. He does not mention the fee or the delivery date. Mina's first draft of a reply says no problem. She stops before sending it.

Mina and Jon are invented. So is the project, its budget and every conversation in this book. They provide a complete worked example, not a report of client experience or a recommended market price. The purpose is to follow one requested change from recognition through a proposal, a decision, delivery and review.

A request can be reasonable and still change the work. Naming the change need not accuse the requester of bad intentions. Jon may not know what another eight pages involve. Mina may not know whether the new text is final. Agreeing before either knows turns an information gap into a promise.

Australian business.gov.au guidance recommends making contract changes explicit, including their effects on scope, cost and timing. We use that practical point, not a universal claim about contract law. Source: https://business.gov.au/people/contractors/prepare-a-contract — checked 29 October 2026.

This short book ends with a completed illustrative project and an original change record you can adapt for discussion. It is general business education, not legal, tax, investment or accounting advice. Real contracts, statutory rights and required approval processes take priority over any example. No client was contacted and no payment was requested in producing it.

Before pricing a difference, identify what the original work includes. Mina's fictional agreement covers one four-page PDF leaflet, using approved supplied text and six supplied photographs, with one consolidated revision round. The agreed fee is 600 illustrative currency units and delivery is Friday. Printing, extra language versions and additional pages are excluded. Elaine is the customer's designated approver; Jon supplies content and coordinates feedback.

These details are invented for clarity, not clauses offered as ready-to-sign legal wording. A real brief might have different responsibilities, unclear exclusions or multiple documents. Read the actual agreement together with relevant correspondence rather than relying on the proposal you wish you had sent.

Mina writes two columns: agreed work and requested difference. The existing four pages do not vanish because someone asks for twelve. Nor does the larger request automatically become included merely because it is attached to a friendly message. She needs to check the agreed process and the requester's authority before deciding what to do.

If your original scope is ambiguous, record the ambiguity honestly. Do not quietly rewrite the past or manufacture an exclusion. Ask for clarification and relevant advice where necessary. You may discover that the disputed work was already promised. A change process should make decisions clearer, not convert every disagreement into an extra charge.

The Australian Department of Finance warns in its variation guidance that discussions can imply agreement before approvals are final. Its audience is government procurement; our narrower lesson is to distinguish inquiry from authorisation. Source: https://www.finance.gov.au/government/procurement/buyright/contract-variations — checked 29 October 2026.

Mina replies that she is checking the impact, not confirming additional work. She asks whether the programme copy is final, whether all eight added pages are required, whether the original deadline remains necessary, and who will approve the revised scope. She includes Elaine using the contact arrangements already established for this fictional project.

Jon explains that the programme must appear in the same PDF but Tuesday would work. Two photographs will change; the six-image total stays the same. There is no additional language version. Elaine will make the decision. This removes several assumptions before they become estimates.

An original question sheet can be brief: what is different, what stays, what input is missing, what outcome is needed, who decides, and by when? It is an aid to conversation, not a substitute for a contract or a compulsory form. The questions should fit the work. A software change, translation job and physical installation have different dependencies and risks.

Mina labels the new file programme-copy-pending rather than final. That small distinction protects the estimate from pretending its input is settled. She also asks whether the added material needs a new approval round. Twelve pages with changing copy are not the same task as placing eight final pages of text.

Do not make the clarification itself a hidden acceptance. Say what you are doing and what decision remains. Conversely, do not halt a real duty or urgent safety task simply because this book describes pausing an optional design addition. Actual obligations need their own assessment.

Mina's original internal budget allows ten hours at an illustrative cost of 30 units per hour: 300. She adds 60 units of allocated overhead, making a simplified project cost of 360. Against a 600 fee, the planned difference is 240. Dividing 240 by 600 gives 40 percent of revenue.

This is a teaching calculation, not certified net profit. It omits tax, financing, collection risk and any cost not named. An internal labour-cost assumption is not an hourly selling rate or a promise about what a freelancer should earn. Allocated overhead is not necessarily a fresh cash payment caused by this job.

Business Queensland distinguishes hourly and project pricing and describes the need to understand business costs. Its guidance supports considering the work and costs; the numbers here are original, not an industry benchmark. Source: https://www.business.qld.gov.au/running-business/marketing-sales/marketing/strategy-planning/pricing-products-services — checked 29 October 2026.

For the additional eight pages, Mina estimates four more hours at the same 30-unit internal cost: 120. In this simplified example no extra overhead allocation is added. She proposes an additional fee of 180. That is her illustrative business decision, not a formula proving the right market price.

Keep the units explicit in your own working sheet. Hours, pages, internal costs and selling prices are different quantities. Record assumptions, including work already allowed for. If an extra task will affect another client's schedule, consider that dependency honestly rather than putting an invented penalty into the cost line.

The original plan is revenue 600, stated cost 360 and difference 240. If Mina does the eight added pages for no extra fee, revenue remains 600 but stated cost becomes 480. The difference falls to 120, or 20 percent of revenue. That is not automatically a cash loss, but it is a different project from the one budgeted.

If the proposed 180 addition is agreed, revenue becomes 780 and stated cost 480. The difference is 300. Dividing 300 by 780 gives about 38.46 percent. The absolute difference rises by 60 compared with the original plan, while the percentage falls from 40 percent. Both statements can be true.

Do not call the 180 fee an extra 180 of profit. The illustrative addition also costs 120. Nor should the proposed 780 be recorded as money collected. A proposal, an agreement, an issued invoice and a payment are separate events.

For a private practice sheet, calculate all three versions yourself before looking back at the answers. Use subtraction first, then identify the denominator of any percentage. “Twenty percent” without saying of what can conceal a misunderstanding. Do not combine markup on cost with a percentage of revenue as though they were the same measure.

The example does not show that every extra request must be billed, or that charging more always produces more work. You may choose an explicitly limited goodwill addition, renegotiate or decline an optional change. The useful act is knowing what you chose and what it changes, rather than discovering it in the final invoice.