Scope Creep Examples — Web development
Bug-fix requests after the engagement has ended
The build shipped and the contract closed. Small bug-fix and "can you just check this" requests keep arriving with no support agreement in place.
The application launched, final acceptance was signed off, and the SOW is complete. A month later, a message arrives about a form that's throwing an error on a specific browser — a real issue, but the engagement that would have covered it under warranty has ended, and there's no support contract in place. More tickets follow over the next few weeks, each treated by the client as routine, none of them billed or tracked anywhere.
Clause typically implicated
Clause typically implicated
Warranty clause→ — Usually covers a fixed post-launch window for genuine defects — worth checking whether this specific bug falls inside or outside that window before quoting anything.
Suggested change-order wording
Suggested change-order wording (illustrative, not legal advice)
Thanks for flagging — our warranty window covered defects for [X] days post-launch, which has now passed, so this falls outside our completed agreement. I can fix it as a billed one-off, or set up a support retainer for issues like this going forward so they don't each need a separate conversation. Let me know which you'd prefer.
How this usually resolves
Checking the warranty window first (rather than assuming everything post-launch is automatically billable) matters here — a genuine defect just outside the window is a different conversation than a defect that surfaces because of something the client changed after launch, and it's worth knowing which one this is before quoting.
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