Nina’s individual position statement, written privately with Mediator.ai. See the full example for context.
What’s happening
I signed a fixed-fee contract with Derek’s company for a marketing website redesign. $12,000. Scope: 8 pages, 2 rounds of revisions, 6-week timeline. Signed in late February, kickoff March 3, launch target May 1. Standard stuff.
We are now two weeks from launch. The site has grown to 14 pages, adds three custom interactive modules nobody mentioned in the RFP, and has gone through six rounds of revisions on the homepage alone. I have logged 142 hours. I estimated 80 when I bid.
Derek keeps sending Slack messages along the lines of “small tweak” and “quick add,” and the pattern is: the tweak takes me four hours, the add takes two days, and the invoice conversation never happens.
Last Tuesday, his VP Marketing approved a new case-study section (four pages, unique layout, custom CMS integration). When I emailed back saying this would be a scope change and I’d send revised numbers, Derek replied: “We’re crashing to launch on May 1, we can figure out the billing later, let’s just ship.”
That was the message that broke me. I’m writing this now because I’m not going to “just ship” on vibes.
What I want
- $8,000 additional, payable on launch. That covers the delta: 14 pages vs. 8, custom modules, extra revision rounds, and the case-study section that just got added. I’d be undercharging if anything. It’s $62/hour for the overage, below my usual rate.
- A scope freeze effective now. No new features before launch. Any request after today gets logged as a post-launch phase-two request, not bundled into the contracted work.
- A writeup of what “done” looks like for the current scope. Plain list. Derek and I both sign it. When I deliver that list on May 1, the project is delivered.
- A clear answer about what happens next. Either we agree on the number and I finish strong, or we don’t and I walk, with a kill fee of $4,000 for work already delivered beyond the original scope.
What I’m willing to do
- Launch May 1. I’ll work the hours. I’m not holding the project hostage. I want to ship this with them.
- Eat some of the overage. I bid too low on the interactive modules. That’s on me, I’ll take the hit on about $2,000 of scope I could have anticipated. The remaining overage is theirs.
- Write the scope change in a form Derek can approve without escalating. If his CFO needs a change order and a PO, I’ll make it easy to issue.
- Continue the relationship. Derek is a repeat client, sort of. I did a smaller project for them last year. If we can land this, I want the phase-two case studies to be my next engagement.
What I’m not willing to do
- Launch without a signed addendum. “Figure out the billing later” is how freelancers get stiffed, and it is also how trust dies between friends. I want this done before the launch, not after.
- Keep absorbing scope on the theory that “it’ll work out.”
- Take a settlement that’s less than half of the delta without leaving the relationship.
What I’m afraid of
- That Derek will agree in principle to some number, we’ll launch, and the check will take three months to arrive, with new conditions attached.
- That if I hold the line on the price, I look difficult and lose them as a repeat client.
- That his CFO will reject the change order for reasons Derek can’t predict, and I’ll have launched the project for $12k of work I did for $12k and another $10k I did for nothing.
What a good outcome looks like
A signed scope-change addendum this week. A clear list of what’s in the May 1 launch and what’s explicitly deferred. Payment terms that say the additional fee gets paid on launch, not 60 days out. A plan for what “phase two” looks like, with a separate contract and separate budget. And a relationship where I don’t feel like I have to threaten to walk to get my work respected.
BATNA
If Derek won’t sign a scope change: I stop work today, invoice for hours delivered at my standard rate ($150/hr × 62 hours over the original 80 = $9,300 plus the $12k base = total $21,300), and hand them what’s built. They can hire someone else to finish. I’d much rather not do this.