What is an e-signed change order?

It is a written agreement for work that goes beyond the original scope. It describes exactly what is being added and what it costs, and the client signs it electronically before the extra work is agreed. Drift Catch keeps an audit trail of what was requested, what was quoted, and when it was signed, so the agreement is on record rather than living in an email thread.

How does Drift Catch stop scope creep instead of just flagging it?

Scope is locked to what the client signed off on at the start of the project. When a request goes beyond that, you turn it into a change order the client reviews and e-signs, with a price you set. Catching the extra and getting it agreed and priced become the same step, rather than a flag you still have to act on later.

Can I require the client to pay before I start the extra work?

Yes, on the Pro plan. Connect Stripe and the change order can be gated on payment, so the new scope only becomes active after the client has paid. The in-app payment gate is a Pro feature at the $14/month founding rate. On Solo you still get the full change-order workflow and the e-signature; you collect through your own Stripe, PayPal, or bank.

Are change orders only on the Pro plan?

No. The change-order workflow — create it, have the client e-sign it, keep the record — is available on Solo as well. What Pro adds is the in-app payment gate, where the work waits until the change order is paid via connected Stripe.

How much should I charge for a change order?

That is your call. Drift Catch does not set a price for you — you decide the number on each change order based on the work and the client. The tool handles the signed agreement, the e-signature, and the audit trail; the pricing judgment stays with you.

Stop scope creep with e-signed change orders

Flagging the extra request is not enough. Drift Catch turns it into a signed, priced change order — and on Pro, the work can wait until it is paid.

Get the payment gate on Pro Start free

The problem is not that you missed the extra request. It is that nothing happened when you caught it.

You already know when a client is pushing past the agreement. The new page that was not in the brief. The fourth round of revisions on a deal that said two. The "quick favor" that eats your Saturday.

Most tools stop at noticing. They count revisions, flag the overage, maybe pop a warning. Then the request sits there — and you do the work anyway, because turning a flag into an awkward money conversation is the part nobody wants to start.

That gap is where the unpaid hours live. Drift Catch is built to close it. We do not just tell you scope crept. We give you a one-click path from "that is out of scope" to a signed, priced change order your client actually agrees to — so catching the extra and getting paid for it are the same motion.

How it works: from extra request to e-signed, paid change order

Lock the scope at signing. When the client signs off on the project, the agreed deliverables and revision count are the baseline. Everything is now measured against what was actually agreed, not a fuzzy memory of a kickoff call.
The extra request becomes a change order. When work goes beyond the locked scope, you create a change order describing exactly what is being added and what it costs. You set the price — there is no formula deciding your worth for you.
The client e-signs it. The change order goes to the client to review and sign. No back-and-forth email thread, no "I thought that was included." Either they sign and the extra work is now agreed and priced, or they decide they do not need it after all. Both outcomes protect you.
There is a record. Every change order keeps an audit trail — what was requested, what was quoted, when it was signed. If a dispute ever surfaces, you are not arguing from memory.

That is the difference between a tool that flags scope creep and a tool that ends it: the flag is the start of a signed, paid agreement, not the end of the feature.

Make the work wait until it is paid (Pro)

On the Pro plan, you can go one step further than a signed agreement: connect Stripe and require the change order to be paid before the extra work moves forward. The client signs, the client pays, and only then does the new scope become active.

This is the part that actually changes your week. "I will send the payment Monday" stops being your problem, because the work is gated on the payment, not on a promise. The in-app payment gate is a Pro feature ($14/month founding rate — see pricing).

If you are on Solo, you still get the full change-order workflow: create it, the client e-signs it, and you keep the record. You collect through your own Stripe, PayPal, or bank instead of the in-app gate. The signed agreement protects you either way; Pro adds the pay-before-work gate on top.

How to actually stop eating free revisions

The mechanics matter, but so does the habit. A few things that make scope-creep control stick:

Define "done" in writing before you start. Name the deliverables and the revision count in the agreement the client signs. You cannot enforce a boundary you never drew. Drift Catch makes this the signed baseline so it is not buried in an email.
Price the extra the moment it is asked, not at the end. The longer an out-of-scope request sits unpriced, the more it feels "included." Turning it into a change order on the spot resets the expectation while it is still easy to have the conversation.
Let the document say no for you. Most freelancers eat revisions because they do not want to be the bad guy. A change order is not personal — it is the agreement doing its job. "Happy to do that; here is the change order" is a far easier sentence than negotiating from scratch.
Keep the receipts. A signed change order with a timestamp is what turns "they are being unreasonable" into "here is what we agreed." The audit trail is your backup if a relationship ever goes sideways.
Decide the price yourself. There is no universal rate for "one extra round." You set the number on each change order based on the work and the client. The tool handles the agreement and the record; the judgment stays yours.

What scope creep is costing you

Nobody can hand you a real number for what free revisions cost — it depends on your rate, your projects, and how often clients push. Anyone who quotes you a universal figure is guessing.

So do the honest version: take your last finished project. Count the rounds and the "quick favors" that were not in the original agreement. Multiply by what your time is actually worth. That is the number — yours, not a stat from a landing page.

Drift Catch does not promise to recover a specific dollar amount. It gives you the mechanism to stop giving that work away for free: lock the scope, price the extra, get it signed, and on Pro, get it paid before you start.

Frequently asked questions

What is an e-signed change order?: It is a written agreement for work that goes beyond the original scope. It describes exactly what is being added and what it costs, and the client signs it electronically before the extra work is agreed. Drift Catch keeps an audit trail of what was requested, what was quoted, and when it was signed, so the agreement is on record rather than living in an email thread.
How does Drift Catch stop scope creep instead of just flagging it?: Scope is locked to what the client signed off on at the start of the project. When a request goes beyond that, you turn it into a change order the client reviews and e-signs, with a price you set. Catching the extra and getting it agreed and priced become the same step, rather than a flag you still have to act on later.
Can I require the client to pay before I start the extra work?: Yes, on the Pro plan. Connect Stripe and the change order can be gated on payment, so the new scope only becomes active after the client has paid. The in-app payment gate is a Pro feature at the $14/month founding rate. On Solo you still get the full change-order workflow and the e-signature; you collect through your own Stripe, PayPal, or bank.
Are change orders only on the Pro plan?: No. The change-order workflow — create it, have the client e-sign it, keep the record — is available on Solo as well. What Pro adds is the in-app payment gate, where the work waits until the change order is paid via connected Stripe.
How much should I charge for a change order?: That is your call. Drift Catch does not set a price for you — you decide the number on each change order based on the work and the client. The tool handles the signed agreement, the e-signature, and the audit trail; the pricing judgment stays with you.