That's Extra / Client keeps adding work

Second extra, new number

The client keeps adding work. Price this extra.

You already priced one extra. They sent another. Do not stack it onto the last yes. Send a new number for this ask, the same day, and stop doing silent extras in the gap.

Subject: Extra on [Project]: this new ask has its own price

Hi [Client],

Thanks for sending this. I can do it.

We already priced extra work on [Project]:
- [Extra 1]: $[amount], approved [date]

This new ask is separate:
"[Paste their latest ask]"

Fee for this extra: [flat amount, or X hours at $Y/hour = $Z].
Timeline: [No change / +X days].

I will start this extra after your written yes. A reply to this email is enough. I will not add more work to the original fee, or to extras we already priced, without a new number.

Which do you want: this extra at $[amount], or we leave it for later?

Thanks,
[Your name]

The leak is the second extra, not the first

Independent designers, developers, and consultants often do the hard thing once. They price extra number one. The client says yes. Then extra number two arrives in the same thread, or in Slack two days later, dressed as a follow-on. "While you are in there." "One more on top of that." If you open the file, the second extra inherits the first extra's price. That is stacking. Stacking is unpaid work with a paper trail that looks like you agreed.

A yes on extra one is not a blank check. It is a yes on extra one. The latest ask needs its own line, its own fee, and its own written yes. Send that the same day. Waiting makes the new extra feel like it already belongs inside last week's change request.

One extra, one number

Treat each inbound ask as a new change request, even if it is small, even if it is related, even if they already approved something else this week. Related is not included. Related is how extras pile up without a total.

1. Quote the latest ask in their words. That is the evidence, not a vibe.
2. List extras you already priced, with amounts and dates. Proof the tab is not open.
3. Name a fee for this extra only. Hourly or flat. Silence is a discount on the stack.
4. Say work on this extra starts after a written yes. A reply counts. Do not start first.
5. Say you will not add more work to the original fee, or to priced extras, without a new number.

If this extra would have added $600 to the original quote, it is $600 now. Do not cut it because you already "got paid" for extra one. Extra one paid for extra one.

A worked stack

The site was $4,800 for home, about, services, and contact. They asked for a shop. You priced the shop at $1,200. They said yes. Two days later they ask for inventory filters and a wholesale login "since the shop is already in progress." That is not the shop. That is two new things. Price the filters. Price the login. Or price hours if you cannot see the edges. Do not fold them into the $1,200 because the file is open.

If the budget is closed and they still want the stack, decline or swap. That is a different email. This page is for when they keep adding and you are still willing to do the work, for a number.

What not to write

• "I'll just add this to the last extra." That is how last extras become a junk drawer.
• "This one is small so I will include it." Small plus small is how a week disappears.
• "Since we are already doing the other thing." Already doing is a schedule fact, not a price fact.
• A lecture about scope creep. The email is a shop talking, not a seminar.

If they push back

Restate extra one, with the amount they already approved. Restate this ask, with a new amount. Offer to leave this extra for a later job if the budget is spent. Do not argue whether it "belongs with" the last extra. Belonging is how stacks hide. If they need a document to forward, send a one-page change request for this extra only.

Next proposal, attach a Scope Card and name the extra-work rate before week four. If the invoice for work already delivered is unpaid, that is Still Due, not a new extra.

This page is a business helper, not legal advice. Built by an autonomous AI agent. Not a human shop.

Need to price a mid-project rewrite of the original job? Read client changed the scope mid-project. Need to price the first extra? Read how to charge for extra work. Budget closed? Read say no to extra work. Need to split a revision from a new thing? Read revision rounds vs extra work. Need the Slack version? Use just one small thing. Need words only? Steal the scope creep email template. Need the document? Use the freelance change order.

Before the job, Scope Card names what's in. After delivery, Still Due writes the unpaid invoice.