When Scope Creep Happens Because of YOU (not your interior design clients)
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I talk a lot about scope creep and how yes, it can be because of a client who simply doesn’t realize the time and energy that goes into those one off requests. But more often, it really does come down to your process (which this post isn’t about, so stick with me).
So, yes, if you don’t have a structured process, a well documented scope of work, clear timelines, established boundaries, and proactive communication (all things we help interior designers with in The DTS Method) then yes of course, there is a VERY high chance you’ll have tons of scope creep throughout your project and by the end of it you’ll feel drained, taken advantage of, and pulled in a million directions.
BUT there is another factor here at play.
And I say this with PERSONAL experience because though I’m not an interior designer, I am a former wedding & event planner and did private consulting & implementation for interior designers for 7 years before moving away from 1:1 work.
And that factor is your desire to overdeliver.
I think as service providers, we think this is us being generous. And it is, sure. But in a paid engagement, it often ends up overwhelming the client, pushing them out of budget, and costing YOU money and time you didn’t account for. Which then results in you being busier than you planned which means every client in your pipeline ‘pays the price’ so to speak because you are stretched more thinly than if you had just stuck to the scope you outlined (and managed your capacity for).
Here’s How I See Scope Creep Play Out for Interior Designers
Let’s say you’re designing a primary bedroom for a client for $6,000 and the design portion will take you five weeks with 3 days for revisions after presentation.
You’ve scoped this project well, mapped the workload and milestones in your capacity calculator, and know this will be a profitable project. FTW!
The project is going well, you like the client, and you walk through the house and think their bathroom is close to being great, buuuuuuut you could pull a few things together for them.
So you do.
You add a bathroom concept. You source fixtures. Wallpaper. Then think, oh let me just pull this fabric in real quick for a window treatment so it all ties together.
You present it as a bonus. It feels generous. It was easy for you to do because you’re already designing the bedroom. These are just a few more selections.
→ But then your client gets it and yes, they love it, how cool you did that for them, but these additional things put them over budget. The bedroom design came in right at budget, and now the new additions for the bathroom that wasn’t in scope add $15,000 to the furnishings investment.
They want to do it.
But they can’t because of budget.
So they ask, can you pull something at a lower price point? We love these but we weren’t planning to update the bathroom yet but if we can get lower priced items, then we could do it all at the same time.
→ OR, they are fine with the extra expenditure, but now they need to have you send your wallpaper hanger to give a quote. So you coordinate that. 30 minutes.
And then the wallpaper hanger comes and has a few questions for you about the install. 30 minutes
Then the client says they found the lights for cheaper, can you match that? 30 minutes
Then the lights arrive and the client has them installed, but had some behind the wall swaps that needed to happen so now they need drywall repair. Can your painter do that? 30 minutes
Now you have to delay your wallpaper hanger and coordinate a new date. 30 minutes
Now the space is ready for window treatment install and the client loves them but says, shoot, the rod is on the wrong side. Can your workroom fix that? 30 minutes
Then, it’s install day for the bedroom and you’ve placed the final accessory, floofed the lat pillow, and perfectly tossed the throw blanket off the end of the bed.
Done?
Nope. Because that bathroom could use a little sprucing.
Let’s place some jars, some fresh greenery, some white towels, some soaps. 60 minutes
Oh, but the client doesn’t want those things, so you return them. 60 minutes
Now yes, there is the reasoning that you’re already ‘there’ answering questions about the bedroom, or maybe installing wallpaper or painting the bedroom so your trades are already on site.
But each item you specify that is outside the scope of work, that is above and beyond, that is you being generous, opens up a new loop. Each loop has the opportunity to come with questions, revisions, and issues.
That one decision didn’t cost you the two hours it took to add those extra selections in. It cost you an additional five hours on the backend as well and it threw lots of tiny little wrenches into your workflow because it wasn’t part of the original scope.
Your scope of work is directly tied to your capacity. When you change one, you change the other.
The other thing it did: it devalued your pricing and trained your client to expect that level of extra moving forward, because now that’s what working with you looks like.
Because one room at $6,000 felt like a premium price to them. But now they get two rooms plus you managing all the details for $6,000. That is a STEAL!
When you feel the urge to add something, really think it through. Ask yourself WHY?
→ Sometimes it’s because something feels unfinished. That’s a scoping issue. You likely knew the bathroom would feel off once the bedroom was complete, which means it should have been included from the start. (Remember, YOU’RE the expert!)
→ Sometimes it’s about impressing the client. This comes down to your confidence.
→ And sometimes it’s because you feel like you overcharged, so you start adding more to justify the price. That’s a money story, and if you want to be successful in business, you should work to uncover it and rewrite it before it costs you more.
None of those are solved by adding more work.
The work you were hired to do, done properly, and the experience you provide them in delivering the service is the entire value.
I’m not saying, Don’t be generous. Don’t delight your clients.
I'm saying, pay attention to when you feel the urge to add more, think through what it will do to your schedule and your capacity, and then find ways to be generous that are already baked into your process. Things that don't open new loops. Things that are one and done.
