Member Avatar for suavedesign

I am a beginner designer, and I charge $15/hr. Is it fair to charge for my time when I am correcting a mistake that I made?

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by sufyan2011

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asked a very common question for early-career freelancers: how to handle billing when a fix is required because of a designer mistake. Replies here take opposite stances ( vs ). A practical middle path is contractual clarity: build a short, explicit warranty into the fee and separate "defect fixes" from "change requests" so both parties know what is free and what is billable.

A short contract clause that covers the basic idea:

Warranty and change requests
Designer will correct design defects caused by Designer at no additional charge for 14 days after final deliverable sign-off. Requests that expand scope (new screens, additional features, or stylistic changes beyond agreed deliverables) will be billed at the agreed hourly rate or delivered under a separate change order. Work to correct client-provided content errors is billable unless otherwise agreed.

Operational steps that reduce disputes and wasted hours:

  • Require written milestone sign-off (email or contract) that defines "final deliverable."
  • Keep an issues log that marks items as "defect" vs "change request."
  • Track time and annotate invoices so clients see what was fixed and why.
  • Add a small buffer in estimates for rework and use a simple QA checklist before deliverables go to the client.
  • For small, client-facing errors, consider absorbing the first hour or offering a one-time discount to preserve the relationship.

Clear terms also limit scope creep (see scope creep). When mistakes happen, taking responsibility quickly and documenting the fix preserves trust; billing is reasonable when the client asks for changes outside the agreed scope or after the warranty window.

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Member Avatar for happygeek

Erm, no, of course not. If you made the mistake then you should correct it free of charge and not expect your client to pay for your ineptitude.

Member Avatar for sufyan2011

Noops, you should pay $15 to client if you MADE mistake;). Well if you are freelancer designer, make your set of rules and give it to client before starting the project e.g. what is the bug fixing period after deployment (may be 2-7 days, free of cost) if client doesn't contact you in this period then I don't think so that it is unfair to charge amount since in software we cannot afford free of cost life time support. Because designer mistake is different from programmer mistake, if you did any implementation mistake, it may ruin client whole business but designer work can be judged by any person (IT or non-IT) so client should contact within support time to fix bugs. Well, this was my way of work when I used to do the freelance, you should think according to your skill and experience.

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