Scope Creep Examples — Web design
A new leader wants a bigger project than the one that was signed
A new marketing VP joins mid-project and wants the five-page site expanded into a full rebrand — bigger than what the client originally signed off on.
The signed SOW is a five-page site design using the client's existing brand guidelines. Halfway through, the client's new marketing VP starts in the role, reviews the work in progress, and decides the brand itself needs to change — new logo, new color system, new typography — before the site should launch. Nothing about the original approval changes the fact that this is a new project layered on top of the signed one; the VP is new, but the contract isn't.
Clause typically implicated
Clause typically implicated
Change order clause→ — A leadership change on the client side doesn't waive the process for formally scoping and approving added work — it still needs an estimate and written sign-off before it starts.
Suggested change-order wording
Suggested change-order wording (illustrative, not legal advice)
Welcome aboard — happy to walk through the project so far. To flag: our current agreement scopes a five-page site using the existing brand guidelines. A full rebrand (logo, color system, typography) is a substantial expansion of that scope. I'd love to put together a proposal for the rebrand work as its own phase so we can price and timeline it properly, separate from the site build already underway.
How this usually resolves
The cleanest path is usually to finish or pause the original scoped deliverable while the rebrand gets separately proposed and approved — trying to redirect the in-flight project on the fly, without a new signed scope, is what turns one signed engagement into an open-ended one with no clear finish line.
Related reading