Change requests during a commission: how to agree, price and record them
Updated · 9 min read
This guide is for makers whose clients change their minds during a commission: a ring that should now be rose gold, a dinner service that needs two more bowls, a saddle with a different seat, a guitar with a cutaway, a table ten centimetres longer. Changes are normal. They only become a problem when nobody writes them down.
We borrow a tool from construction and project management, the written change order, and adapt it to a one-person workshop. Then we look at how to price a change, how it moves the date, and which stages in each craft make changes expensive or impossible.
If you have not yet set up a payment schedule, read payment schedules for commissions first. Changes and payments are easier to manage together.
Key takeaways
- Construction calls a change to the agreed work a variation or change order: an addition, substitution or omission. The term fits a commission well.
- The Project Management Institute's 2018 survey found that 52% of projects completed in the previous 12 months experienced scope creep, which it defines as uncontrolled expansion of scope without adjustments to time, cost and resources.
- A written change order needs four things: what changes, the price effect, the date effect and the client's approval, before you do the work.
- Price changes the same way as the original quote, and add the cost of any work you have to undo.
- Each craft has points of no return, such as glue-up, casting, leather-hard clay or glaze firing. Tell clients which stages lock which decisions.
- Approvals at stages, with a photo and a reply, prevent most disputes about what was agreed.
Why changes go wrong
Most disputes about commissions are not about the change itself. They are about what was agreed, what it cost and why the piece is late.
Project managers have a name for the pattern: scope creep. The Project Management Institute's Pulse of the Profession 2018 defines it as "the uncontrolled expansion of product or project scope without adjustments to time, cost, and resources". In that survey, 52% of projects completed in the previous year experienced scope creep, up from 43% five years earlier. The survey covered organisations' projects, not workshops, but the mechanism is the same: small additions, each reasonable on its own, that nobody priced or scheduled.
The word that matters is uncontrolled. A change that is agreed, priced and dated is not a problem. It is just a new version of the commission.
What construction does: variations and change orders
Building contracts have dealt with changes for a long time, and the vocabulary is useful.
Designing Buildings Wiki, a UK construction reference, describes a variation (also called a variation instruction, variation order or change order) as "an alteration to the scope of works, in the form of an addition, substitution or omission". It notes several things that carry straight over to a workshop:
- The instruction must be clear about what is and is not included.
- Variations can add to or reduce the price. Where the contract has no similar work to price from, the wiki describes a fair valuation of direct costs, overheads and profit.
- Variations may, but do not necessarily, justify more time.
- Variations are often a source of dispute, including disputes about whether something was a variation at all.
- Some changes are off limits. The wiki notes that a variation may not, without the contractor's consent, change the fundamental nature of the works.
You do not need a formal contract to use this. You need a habit: every change after the design is approved gets a short written record before you act on it.
A change order for a workshop
A change order can be an email, a message in your project log or a line on a form. It needs:
- A number or date, so you can refer to it later ("change 2, 14 March").
- What changes, described clearly, with a sketch or photo if it helps. Say what stays the same if there is room for doubt.
- The price effect: the new total, or "no change to price".
- The date effect: the new completion date, or "no change to date".
- The client's approval, in writing. A reply saying "yes, go ahead" is enough.
A typical one reads:
Change 2, 14 March. Add a second, matching drawer to the left side. Extra materials and about six hours of work: the price rises by 240, from 2,860 to 3,100. Completion moves from 4 April to 11 April. Please reply to confirm and I will start.
(The figures in this example are made up for illustration.)
Do not start the changed work until the approval arrives. If the client asked in person or by phone, send the written version the same day. It protects them as much as you: the record shows exactly what they agreed to pay for.
Pricing a change
Price a change the way you priced the commission. The pricing guide covers the method in full. For a change, add up:
- Extra materials, at current prices. For precious metals and some timbers, today's price may differ from the price in the original quote.
- Extra hours, at your rate, including design time for drawings, renders or test pieces.
- Undoing. Work already done that has to be removed, remade or scrapped. A setting cast for one stone may not fit a different one. A glazed plate cannot be reglazed in a different colour without risk.
- Overheads and profit on the extra work, as in the original quote.
- Knock-on effects. If the change pushes back other clients' work, that is a real cost to you, even if you choose not to charge it.
Omissions count too. If a client drops a feature, the price can come down, but rarely by the feature's full value if you have already bought materials or done part of the work.
Free changes
Many makers absorb small changes. That is a reasonable choice, but make it a stated policy rather than a habit you cannot explain later: "Small adjustments that do not add materials or more than half an hour of work are included." Write down free changes anyway, so the record matches the piece.
Design revisions before making
Changes are cheapest before making starts, and the design stage is where to absorb them. Some makers include a fixed number of revisions. Shetland Jewellery's bespoke terms, for example, include up to two rounds of design revisions, with further revisions possibly charged. Fenton describes a process where the client refines a CAD design and 3D render, and the setting is cast only once the design is approved. A clear sign-off at the end of design is the single best protection against expensive changes later.
The timeline effect
A change rarely costs only the hours it takes. It can mean reordering a material, waiting for a stone, refiring a kiln load or rebooking a finisher. In a small workshop with a queue of commissions, it can also push back the next client.
When you give the new date, count:
- lead time for any new materials or parts;
- the extra working hours;
- process time you cannot speed up, such as drying, curing, firing cycles or finish coats;
- where the commission now sits in your queue.
Give the latest realistic date, not the hopeful one. If the client has a fixed deadline, such as a wedding, a birthday or a gallery opening, say plainly whether the change still fits.
Points of no return, by craft
Every craft has stages after which some changes become expensive or impossible. Telling clients about them at the start is the most useful thing you can do, because it moves their decisions to the point where changes are cheap.
| Craft | Decisions that lock at this stage |
|---|---|
| Jewellery | Metal, ring size range and stone shape lock once the setting is cast; engraving locks once it is cut |
| Ceramics | Form and joins lock at leather-hard; the piece is permanent after bisque firing; colour locks after glaze firing |
| Glass | Form and colour are fixed once the piece is blown or cast and has cooled |
| Leather | Pattern and cut lock once the leather is cut; stitching and edge colour once finished |
| Instruments | Body shape and bracing lock once the box is closed; neck profile once carved and finished |
| Metalwork | Dimensions lock once parts are cut and welded; finish once galvanised or powder coated |
| Furniture | Dimensions and joinery lock at glue-up; colour at the first coat of finish |
Some of these are material facts. In ceramics, Cerritos College's course notes describe leather-hard as the last stage at which clay can be joined, and bisque-fired ware as permanently hardened: it cannot be made plastic again. They also put total shrinkage from wet clay to glaze-fired ware at roughly 12%, which matters if a client asks to adjust a size after throwing. Others are practical rather than absolute: a closed guitar body can be opened, but at a cost no client wants to pay.
Put the relevant stages in the quote: "Final decisions on size and stone are needed before casting, planned for week three."
Approvals at stages
Most change disputes come down to one question: did the client see and approve this before it was fixed? A simple routine answers it.
At each stage that locks a decision, send a photo with a short note and ask for an explicit approval. "Here is the setting before casting. Please confirm the size and stone position, and I will cast on Thursday." Keep the reply with the order.
This also makes changes less likely in the first place. A client who has approved a render, a test tile or a dry fit has already made the decision once. The client updates guide covers how to share stages, and photographing work in progress covers what to photograph so the approval is clear.
Saying no
Not every change should be accepted. Decline, or propose an alternative, when a change would:
- weaken the piece structurally or make it unsafe;
- conflict with a material you have already committed to, such as a cast setting or a fired glaze;
- push other clients' commissions past their agreed dates;
- turn the commission into a different piece altogether.
Be specific about why, and offer what is possible instead: "I cannot widen the band now it is cast, but I can make a matching second band in the new width." The client usually wants the outcome, not the particular change.
Put the process in the agreement
Write the change process into your terms before the client pays the deposit:
- what counts as the approved design, by reference to dated drawings, renders or samples;
- how changes are requested and confirmed (in writing, before work starts);
- how they are priced;
- that dates move with changes;
- which stages lock which decisions;
- how many design revisions are included.
A contract template can be adapted for any craft.
Sources
- Pulse of the Profession 2018, Project Management Institute: definition of scope creep and 52% of projects completed in the past 12 months experiencing it, up from 43% five years earlier
- Variations in construction contracts, Designing Buildings Wiki: variation as addition, substitution or omission, clarity of instructions, fair valuation of direct costs, overheads and profit, time extensions, disputes, limits on changing the fundamental nature of the works
- Bespoke Terms and Conditions, Shetland Jewellery: up to two rounds of design revisions included, further revisions possibly charged
- Bespoke, Fenton: CAD design and 3D render refined with the client, casting after design approval
- Art 150 Beginning Ceramics: Basic Ceramic Technology, Cerritos College: leather-hard as the last stage for joining, permanence after bisque firing, approximately 12% total shrinkage
Questions this guide gets asked
Do I have to accept every change a client asks for?
No. You can accept it, accept it with a new price and date, or decline it if it would compromise the piece or your schedule. Construction contracts often limit changes that alter the fundamental nature of the work, and the same reasoning applies to a commission.
Should I charge for small changes?
Decide a threshold and say it at the start. Many makers absorb a change that takes minutes and costs nothing, and price anything that adds materials, hours or a redo. Even a free change should be written down, so the record matches the piece.
What if the client asks for a change by phone or in person?
Confirm it in writing the same day: what you understood, the price and date effect, and a request for a reply. Do not start the work until the client has confirmed. A short message is enough.
How do I price a change?
Use the same method as the original quote: extra materials, extra hours at your rate, a share of overheads and profit. Add the cost of any work you have to undo or scrap, and say if the change delays other commissions in your queue.
Can a change reduce the price?
Yes. Leaving out a feature can lower the price, but rarely by its full original value if you have already bought materials or done the work. Construction treats omissions as variations too, valued the same way as additions.
What if the client keeps changing their mind?
Point back to the approved design and the change process you agreed. Set a limit on design revisions before making starts, as some jewellers do, and price further rounds. Repeated changes are often a sign the design stage ended too early.