Scope and change orders: stop doing work for free
Scope creep in a design studio is rarely one large request. It is twenty small ones, each too minor to invoice and each agreed to in the spirit of the relationship. Together they are the difference between a project that earns and one that does not. This playbook is how to make extra work visible, priced and agreed before anyone starts drawing it.
26 September 2026 · 10 minute read
In this playbook
- A stage by stage scope schedule format
- The exclusions list most studios forget
- A definition of a revision round that clients accept
- A five step change order process, with message and clause wording
Why it happens in architecture especially
Design is iterative by nature, and clients cannot tell where developing the design ends and changing the brief begins. From their side, moving the kitchen is the same activity as refining the kitchen. From yours, one is included and the other means redrawing three sheets and resubmitting to the authority.
Scope creep is common in project work of every kind. It is also one of the least measured costs in architecture: there is no published study of how often it happens in design studios or how many hours it costs, which is part of why it is so easy to ignore. The fix is not to become rigid. It is to make the line visible so that both sides know when a request crosses it.
Write scope as a schedule, not a paragraph
A paragraph of scope can be read generously by the client and narrowly by you, and it will be. A schedule, one row per stage, with deliverables and revision rounds named, leaves far less room for either.
| Stage | Included | Revision rounds | You receive |
|---|---|---|---|
| Concept | Site analysis, two design options | Two | Plans, massing views, outline cost range |
| Schematic | Developed chosen option | Two | Plans, sections, elevations, material direction |
| Authority submission | Drawings for one application | One set of authority comments | Submission set and approval |
| Detailed design | Construction drawings and specification | One | Tender drawings and schedules |
Name the exclusions
What is not included protects you more than what is. Write it as a list in the proposal and repeat it in the agreement. The items below are the ones that most often turn into unpaid work because nobody said they were separate.
- Specialist consultants: structural, MEP, landscape, acoustic, unless listed
- Interior design, furniture and loose fittings
- Authority, municipality and utility fees
- Measured surveys, soil tests and as built drawings of existing structures
- Revision rounds beyond those in the schedule
- Site visits beyond the number stated
- Redesign caused by a change of budget, brief or site after approval of a stage
- Marketing images and renders beyond those listed
Define a revision round, in writing
Saying "two rounds of revisions" is not enough if a round can be one comment or forty. Define it: one consolidated set of comments from the client, responded to in one update of the drawings. Comments that arrive after you have started the update belong to the next round.
Each stage includes the number of revision rounds shown in the scope schedule. A revision round is one consolidated set of written comments from the Client, followed by one update of the drawings by the Architect. Further rounds, or changes to a stage already approved, will be quoted as additional services before work proceeds.
The change order process, step by step
- Log the request the day it arrives, with the date and who asked.
- Decide whether it is inside scope, using the schedule and exclusions, not memory.
- If it is outside, send a short quote: what changes, the fee, and the effect on the programme.
- Wait for written approval before any work starts. A reply on WhatsApp counts; a nod on site does not.
- Invoice the change with the next stage invoice, as its own line.
Step four is where studios slip. The request is small, the client is pleasant, and drawing it seems quicker than quoting it. That is exactly how twenty small requests go unpaid. The rule is simple and has no exceptions: no approval, no drawing.
| Request | Usually | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Adjust window sizes on the approved scheme | In scope | Development of the approved design |
| Add a basement after schematic approval | Change | New brief element, redraws several stages |
| Swap the cladding material | Depends | In scope at concept, a change after detailed design |
| Resubmit after the client changes the layout | Change | Authority work repeated because the brief changed |
Say it without sounding difficult
Most architects avoid change orders because they fear sounding like a contractor chasing extras. The wording below keeps the tone warm, frames the change as the client's choice, and puts the number in front of them before the work, which is what they would want if they thought about it.
Happy to look at adding [the basement]. It sits outside the approved scheme, so it means reworking the [structure, sections and authority drawings]. That would be [fee] and add about [two weeks] to the programme. Shall I go ahead?
That one is small enough that we will include it. Just so you know, the next changes to the approved layout will need a quick quote before we start.
The second message matters. Absorbing a small change is fine when you say so out loud. It builds goodwill that is visible, and it sets the expectation for the next request instead of creating a precedent.
Keep a change log
- Date requested and by whom
- What was asked, in one line
- In scope or change, and why
- Fee and programme effect quoted
- Date approved, and how
- Invoice it was billed on
A change log turns an uncomfortable conversation at the end of a project into a list both sides already agreed to. It also tells you, across projects, which kinds of request recur, which is where your next proposal should be clearer.
Sources
- Project Management Institute, Pulse of the Profession 2018