🕰️ Est. Time: 3 minutes
🎯 Goal: Achieve better control over unexpected project scope changes
🔑 Requirements: Access to view and edit jobs
What is scope creep?
Scope creep happens when additional work is introduced to a project without adjusting time, budget, or resources. It often starts with small requests "just one more revision" or "can we add this feature?" but can quickly lead to overwork, delays, and reduced profitability.
Why it matters
Thinking about how you'll handle scope creep early on can help manage time, budgets and client expectations.
Keeps projects on schedule and prevents last-minute surprises
Ensures work is appropriately priced and resourced
Prevents burnout from unplanned work piling up
Identifying scope creep
Spotting scope creep early can help keep your project on track and prevent minor changes from adding up to significant disruptions.
Ask yourself:
✔️ Has extra work been requested that wasn’t in the original plan?
✔️ Will this impact deadlines, workload, or costs?
✔️ Have similar requests happened before on this project?
Handling scope changes effectively
Once changes are identified, how you handle and communicate them with the client is key to maintaining transparency and controlling project costs.
Adjust timelines and budgets
Use Streamtime to modify job dates, hours, and pricing in response to changes
Create updated quotes for sign off before delivering additional work
Communicate with your team
Pause jobs, phases or items while agreeing scope changes
Notify team members about changes and adjustments as soon as possible to ensure alignment
Client conversation template
We know that pushing back on clients isn't the easiest so here's a template to help you get started:
"We’d love to help with this! Since this wasn’t part of the agreed scope, we can either adjust the timeline to accommodate or discuss additional budget. Let us know what works best for you."
Reducing scope creep in the future
Managing scope creep isn’t just about saying "no", it’s about setting clear expectations, tracking changes, and having a structured way to evaluate and communicate adjustments. This helps maintain profitability, avoid burnout, and keep clients informed.
Here are some preventative measures you can use in the future:
Use detailed job plans and send quotes for approval
Track actual vs planned time to spot patterns across projects and clients
Set clear limits on revisions - how many, what's included, any deadlines
Clarify extra costs early - explain changes outside of the original scope will affect pricing and timings
Regularly review job progress against both time and budget