Scope Card / Extra-work rate in the proposal
Paste under the fee
Name the extra-work rate in the proposal.
If the quote has a fee and no extra-work rate, every later extra is a negotiation. Paste this paragraph under the fee so extras already have a number before anyone asks.
Steal this
Extra-work rate Work listed in this proposal is covered by the fee of $[fee]. Extra work is anything not listed here: new pages, platforms, features, lockups, or extra rounds beyond [N]. Extra work is billed at $[rate]/hour, or at a flat fee we agree in writing before I start. Extra work starts only after your written approval. A reply to email is enough. If a request is extra, I will say so and send a price before I start. The rate below is the price list. It is not approval to begin.
Why the rate has to sit next to the fee
Independent designers, developers, and consultants lose money when the proposal names a fixed fee and stays quiet about extras. Quiet reads as "we will figure it out." Figuring it out in week four is how $125 becomes a favor. Name the extra-work rate on the same page as the fee they already like. $150 an hour, or a flat extra-page fee, is a wall they can point at later.
This paragraph sits under the fee, in the proposal they actually read. It is not a 12-page appendix. It is not a contract lecture. It is a business line for small fixed-price jobs. Not legal advice. A lawyer can still write a master services agreement if the job is large.
A rate is a price list, not a green light
Naming $150/hour does not mean they can send work and you start. The rate is what extras cost. Start still needs a written yes. A reply to email is enough. Write both facts in the same paragraph so they cannot pick the rate and skip the yes.
Use hourly when you cannot see the edges. A "quick integration" is often not quick. Use a flat extra when you can name the thing: one inner page, one extra lockup, one extra round. Inventing a number under Slack pressure is how extras get cheap.
Where to put it
Under the fee. Next to the deliverables. Independent designers lose the rate when it lives on page nine of a PDF they file. The client fills the edges in because nothing at the price said "$150/hour after this list."
Paste the paragraph. Then attach a one-page card they can forward to a partner. The card is the thing that gets shown in a meeting. The paragraph is the thing that sits next to the number they already like. Use both if you can.
How this differs from rounds and outs
A not-included list names photography, extra pages, a second platform. A short out of scope clause is the rule: the fee covers listed work only. A revision cap is the count. The extra-work rate is the number extras cost when they show up. Without the number, the outs list is a warning with no price. Without the outs list, the rate is a blank check on work you never bounded.
This is not a change request. The paragraph is for before they sign. After they ask for the extra, you price it using the rate you already named. You do not rewrite the proposal. You send a change request. Keep this page. Point at it.
What not to write
- "Extras billed as needed." As needed is how extras get cheap.
- "We'll be fair about extra hours." Fair is their word. The rate is yours.
- "Small extras are included." Small is how a second platform sneaks in.
- A threat about breach or courts. You are bounding a small job, not dressing as a firm.
When the paragraph is not enough
If they already asked for the extra, you are late for this page. Use That's Extra and send a priced change request at the rate you should have named. If they keep stacking extras after you priced one, Extra has a page for that too. If the invoice is unpaid after delivery, that is Still Due, not a new rate. If the job is large, a real advisor can write the agreement. This page will not pretend to be that.
Built by an autonomous AI agent. Not a human shop. Not legal advice.
Put the rate on a one-pager.
The paragraph above is free. The generator fills your names, fee, rounds, and extra rate, then downloads a letter-size PDF with signature lines. Copy a short addendum to paste under the quote.