They asked for more. Here’s what to charge.

Extra hours already have a floor

A change-order post will tell you to paste “20% of the original quote” into the SOW and call it a day. That number is not a law, not a tax table, and not what this card computes. They asked for more hours. Those hours have a floor — the same hourly floor you already set on the hub.

Extra charge = extra hours they just asked for × hourly floor. New project total = original quote + extra hours × floor. The original quote already priced the old scope. The new hours are new money. That extra is why this page exists.

Extra 4 hours is not a vibe. It is $360.

Preset: extra 4 hours. Floor $90. Original quote $2,000. 4 × $90 = $360 extra. New total $2,360.

You do not invent a bonus percent on top of hours you can already count. You do not start the extra round before the dollars have a name. Paste the sentence. Start after they confirm.

They ate the week

Preset: extra 12 hours. That is not a tweak. 12 × $90 = $1,080. New total $3,080. The original $2,000 was a different job. If the brief actually changed shape, stop adding hours and rebuild on quote a project. This card is for extra hours on the same job, named before you work them.

If they already walked, that is not a change order. Hours already worked vs the deposit is the keep / unpaid gap. Different ping, different card.

If they did not add extra NEW hours — they wrote a lid on the original invoice, and the original hours ran long — that is not this add-on yet. billed = min(hours × floor, cap they type) on the not-to-exceed card. 20h × $90 = $1,800 vs cap $1,500 → billed $1,500, 3.33h unpaid. Those leftover hours become this card only after they open a change-order for them. A cap is not extra screens.

If they did not add hours — they just moved Friday up — that is not this card. Same hours, shorter calendar is the rush-job compression, not extra hours × floor.

If they did not add hours — they asked you to show up — that is not extra NEW hours either. Hours on site + travel hours you type × this floor is the on-site day card. A commute is not a change order.

If the ping was “put the stock on your card” (or fonts, ads, a contractor) and not extra screens, skip this hours math. The expense-markup card multiplies the pasted vendor cost by one plus a share you type. Zero share is repay-at-cost. Typing 0.15 is a 15% illustration you chose, not an agency rule. New hours stay on this card.

If they did not add NEW hours of your craft — they want motion, copy, or photo you don’t do, and you will find, brief, and review that person — that is not extra screens you will draw. Specialist extra = hours you type to hunt them × this floor on the specialist card. 3h × $90 = $270. Their invoice still pastes on expense-markup. New pages you will make stay here. Casting someone else goes there. This page will not invent a 20% markup or “specialist is 15% of the project.”

If picture is already locked and they want opens, lower thirds, or end cards on that cut — that is not extra NEW hours of shooting, and it is not a new edit while the cut is still open. Hours you type × this floor live on the motion-graphics card. 6h × $90 = $540. Not 20% of the edit. Not a per-second mill. YOUR hours on the graphics. A motion person you don’t do still sits on specialist. New shooting or a new sequence stay here. Type that moves on a locked picture goes there.

If they did not add NEW hours of deliverable work — they asked for a standing Zoom, standup, or status call that was never in the job hours — that is not extra screens. Call extra = calls per week × hours per call you type × weeks × this floor on the weekly-call card. 1 × 0.5h × 4 weeks × $90 = $180. New pages stay here. The recurring invite goes there. This page will not invent “meetings are free.”

If they did not add NEW hours of work — they moved hours they already bought onto Saturday, or asked you to stay after the day they already paid for — that is not extra screens. Weekend extra = weekend hours × this floor × a share you type on the weekend-hours card. 0.5 is a half-again example, not employment overtime. New hours stay here. Saturday/Sunday of hours already in the job go there.

The small tweak you were going to eat

Preset: extra 2 hours. Floor $90 → $180. You were going to “just fix the header.” Two hours still left the calendar. Two hours × the floor is the charge. Eating it does not make you easy to work with. It trains the next ping.

If the look was never even a job — free kickoff, unpaid audit — that time is unpaid discovery, not a change order. Price the look, or walk. Do not launder a free teardown into “one small tweak.”

If there is no original quote — just a $40 inbound tweak with no live job — that is the minimum-fee card, not extra hours on a live job. This card needs a quote that already exists.

If they did not ask for new screens or new features — they asked to make the logo bigger, or take another pass on the same file, after the revision rounds already in the quote are used — that is not extra NEW hours. Price that rework on the revision-round card: hours for that pass × this floor. New deliverables stay here. Same-file rework goes there.

If they did not add extra NEW hours of deliverable work — they added extra people to the review chain (legal, brand, a VP) and the screens stay the same — extra = extra people you type × hours per extra person you type × this floor on the extra-approvers card. 2 extra people × 2h × $90 = $360. Hours per extra person are whatever you type, not a 2-hour industry default. New pages stay here. Extra inboxes go there.

If they did not ask for extra NEW hours at all — they asked to run the same deliverable in paid ads, every market, or perpetual worldwide — that is not this card. Same hours, broader rights. Usage extra = hours already in the quote × this floor × a multiplier they type on the usage-license card. 0.5 is a half-again example, not 2× for nationwide ads, not copyright law. New screens stay here. A bigger grant on the same files goes there.

If they did not ask for extra NEW hours of new work — they asked for the Figma, PSD, or AE project after they already bought the PDF, MP4, or site — that is not this card either. Source extra is hours to package and hand off × this floor on the source-files card. Type 0 on the optional original-hours multiplier to leave it off. 0.25 is a quarter-job example, not 50% of the project, and not added to that extra. New screens stay here. Working files of a finished delivery go there.

The rush % / change % box is a planning example. You can clear it.

Some people want to see a percent of the original quote next to the hours math. Fine. Type a rush % or a change %. The card will show that product and label it a planning example. It does not replace extra hours × floor. It does not become the sentence. It is not added to the extra or to the new total. There is no official 20% or 25% freelance change-order fee on this page.

Example: original quote $2,000, you type 15% → $300 planning example. Extra still 4 × $90 = $360. New total still $2,360. The percent line is a comparison you asked for, not a rule we invented.

Send the sentence tonight

Do not write a speech about scope creep. Name the extra hours. Name the dollars. Name the new total. Copy from the card so the dollars match.

• Extra 4 hours. The extra 4 hours at my $90.00/hr floor is $360.00. New project total is $2,000.00 + $360.00 = $2,360.00. Please confirm that change before I start the extra work.
• They ate the week. The extra 12 hours at my $90.00/hr floor is $1,080.00. New project total is $2,000.00 + $1,080.00 = $3,080.00. Please confirm that change before I start the extra work.
• Small tweak. The extra 2 hours at my $90.00/hr floor is $180.00. That is not a free tweak. New project total is $2,000.00 + $180.00 = $2,180.00. Please confirm that change before I start the extra work.

Skip guilt, fake scarcity, and “industry standard change order.” Those lines turn a calendar fact into a fight. If they will not confirm, do not start the extra hours. The original quote still stands. If the extra is actually a new project, cut it on the quote guide and take a fresh deposit before you block another week. If they only wanted a wider grant on the same hours, stop adding hours and use the usage-license extra.

This is planning math, not a contract

Educational only — not legal, tax, or collections advice. We do not invent a required change-order percent, a statutory extra-hours fee, marketplace change fees, or a 50-state tax engine. Confirm live terms in whatever agreement you already use. If you need an enforceable change clause, a lawyer in your jurisdiction writes it before extra work starts. Typing numbers here does not create one.

The math is: extra hours you type, hourly floor, original quote, extra charge, new project total, optional planning % of original quote, one email-sized sentence.

Rate calculator Quote a project They capped the original invoice If they cancelled instead Same hours, they need it Friday Saturday / after-hours extra Take a deposit on the new total Unpaid discovery Tiny job, no live quote Same file, another pass Extra people, same screens Same hours, broader rights They want the working files Stock / fonts / ads they named A specialist you don’t do Locked picture, they want graphics

Rebuild the floor on the hub if billable weeks moved. Extra hours on a live job get a name on this card. A lid on the original invoice — billed = min(hours × floor, cap) — lives on not-to-exceed until they open those leftover hours as extra here. Opens, lower thirds, or end cards after picture is locked live on motion-graphics — 6h × $90 = $540, not 20% of the edit, not a per-second mill, not extra NEW shooting. Broader rights on the same hours live on usage-license. Working files after a bought delivery live on source-files. Another pass on the same file after included rounds is the revision-round fee, not new scope. Extra people on a one-signer quote is the extra-approvers fee, not extra NEW hours. If they only wanted a look, price paid discovery instead of another free teardown. If they already walked, use the kill-fee keep / gap.

FAQ