Change orders for a social retainer
WhizSuite · 2026-09-16
Retainers drift one favor at a time. The change order is how you notice the drift while you can still price it.
What counts as a change
Extra placements, a new network, a shoot, a landing page, a crisis week, a second approver with veto power. List examples in the contract so you are not debating philosophy later.
Small wording fixes inside the included rounds are not changes. A new campaign concept is. Draw that line with two examples from their own business.
Write it in a few lines
What you will do, by when, for what fee, and what you will not do. A paragraph is enough. A change order that needs a lawyer for every extra story frame will be skipped, and the work will happen anyway, unpaid.
Email acceptance can be enough if the contract says it is. Use the same thread format every time so finance can find it.
Do the work after the yes
Starting the extra work "to be nice" while the change order sits unread is how nice becomes the scope. Hold the start date. Offer a smaller version that fits the current fee if they need something today.
Rush fees exist because other clients' locked work has to move. Say that plainly. Rush is not a moral failing. It is a queue.
Roll patterns into the next term
Three change orders of the same shape means the retainer is wrong. Fold the pattern into the renewal instead of acting surprised every month.
Bring the orders to the renewal meeting. Memory underprices. Paper does not.