Scope Creep Examples — Web development
A compressed timeline, without a rush fee attached
The client wants launch moved up by a month, expecting the same sprint plan to compress at no additional cost.
The SOW's sprint plan assumed a ten-week build with staged QA. A funding announcement moves the client's target launch up by a month, and they ask the dev team to "just move faster" to hit it — same feature set, same price, four weeks sooner. In practice that means either adding developer hours (overtime or extra contractors) or cutting QA time, and neither was priced into the original ten-week estimate.
Clause typically implicated
Clause typically implicated
Timeline clause→ — The agreed schedule the estimate was built on — compressing it changes the cost basis of the engagement even if the feature list doesn't change.
Suggested change-order wording
Suggested change-order wording (illustrative, not legal advice)
Hitting the new date is possible, but it requires either adding a second developer for the remaining sprints or reducing QA time, both of which change the cost or risk profile of the build. A compressed timeline like this typically comes with a rush premium of [X]% to cover the added capacity. Want me to put together options at both the original and compressed timelines?
How this usually resolves
Giving the client concrete options — extra cost for the earlier date, or the original date at the original price — tends to resolve this faster than a general "that'll cost more" statement, because it lets them make the trade-off decision themselves with real numbers.
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