01
Separate the record from each interpretation
A fictional client asks a freelancer to add two landing pages after approving a five-page website. The request sounds related to the project, but the recorded scope lists five named pages and excludes campaign pages.
The request itself is not misconduct. The practical question is whether it is already included, a correction, a swap, or a separately approved change—and what it would do to price, timing, inputs, and acceptance.
Documented facts
- The approved scope names five pages and excludes campaign landing pages.
- The client has asked for two additional pages, but no written change has been approved.
- The current project schedule and price were built around the original deliverables.
What the freelancer believes
- The two pages require new layout, build, content-entry, testing, and review work.
- Beginning now would create schedule and payment risk unless the change is recorded first.
What the client believes
- The pages may feel like a small extension of the existing design rather than a new project.
- The campaign date may make a separate change process feel slower than expected.
What remains unknown
- Whether another original deliverable could be removed or deferred instead of adding work.
- Whether final copy, assets, and an approver are ready for the new pages.
- The added fee, schedule effect, acceptance checks, and approval method.
02
Consider both perspectives without assuming fault
Different concerns can be reasonable at the same time. Neither list proves a disputed fact; it shows what a workable response must address.
Freelancer perspective
Practical concerns from the freelancer’s side
- Estimate the actual added effort and dependencies before quoting or promising a date.
- Keep working on unaffected original tasks while the change is evaluated, if that remains practical.
Client perspective
Practical concerns from the client’s side
- Explain the business priority and whether adding, swapping, or deferring the request would still solve it.
- Expect the freelancer to identify effects rather than treating every related request as automatically included or chargeable.
03
Check these records before deciding what happened
Start with the material both parties can inspect. Preserve original messages and files; work from copies when adding notes.
- The exact deliverables, exclusions, assumptions, and revision definition in the accepted record.
- Whether the request fixes a failure against an acceptance criterion or changes the intended result.
- The change process and who can approve effects on price, schedule, and responsibilities.
- Inputs, third-party costs, review time, and other work affected by the request.
- Any platform rule governing changes if the project is platform-based.
04
Choose the smallest proportionate next step
These steps are possibilities, not a required legal sequence. Adapt them to the actual risk, agreement, platform, and communication record.
Restate the gap
Quote or link the original deliverable and describe the requested output without assigning blame.
Offer bounded choices
Present add, swap, defer, clarify, or decline options with their known tradeoffs.
Record the whole change
Capture deliverables, exclusions, price, dates, inputs, review, acceptance, and approval together.
Wait for authorization
Do not treat discussion, a meeting note, or an informal message as approval unless the agreed process says it is.
05
Adapt a neutral, answerable message
Replace every bracketed detail and verify the record before sending. Do not turn the example into a threat or claim a consequence you have not checked.
06
Know when the situation needs qualified help
A scope discussion usually begins with the actual record and a commercial decision. Get qualified advice before declaring breach, withholding property, making a legal demand, or relying on a right that is not clear in the agreement and applicable process.
Get qualified help promptly when there is
- a threat to anyone’s physical safety or credible harassment or discrimination concerns;
- suspected crime, fraud, unauthorized account access, or a material exposure of personal or confidential data;
- a large potential loss, an imminent filing or response deadline, or a demand that depends on jurisdiction-specific rights; and
- a platform restriction, court order, insurance requirement, or other process with a deadline you cannot confidently interpret.
07
Use Lucy only after removing sensitive details
Lucy can organize the original wording, requested change, and open questions after confidential details are removed. She does not decide whether work is legally owed. Following this link opens the ordinary blank tool. It does not load this example, transmit content, or make an AI request until you choose to submit the tool form.
Compare a redacted request with the scope →
Read how Lucy handles a request before submitting real project material.
Keep going
Continue from the actual record
Project record
Statement of Work outline
Check deliverables, exclusions, responsibilities, revisions, acceptance, and the change process together.
Change record
Project Change Request
Document the requested difference and its effects before changed work begins.
Worked example
See Harbor Street raise the change
Follow a two-page request from an unapproved idea to a reconciled written change.
Related situation
Disagreement over revisions
Separate included corrections from additional rounds or a new direction.