Why aren't unlimited revisions included in your estimates?

I recently received an estimate for some design work, which included a set number of revisions. Why aren't unlimited revisions included in your estimates?

As a business in search of design help, it is completely understandable that you want to go into a new design project feeling confident that you'll end up with a finished product that achieves your goals. The thought of limitations can make you afraid that you won't be able to get the project finished the way you hope for. Rest assured that it is incredibly important to us that you are thrilled with the final result of your project. That being said, there are essentially two reasons we limit revisions on a project estimate: 1) to promote mutual trust and 2) to keep our business profitable. Let me delve into those two items a bit further.

Promoting trust

Typically, our clients come to us because we have expertise in creating something that they don’t have as much experience at. In order to have a healthy business relationship, our clients need to trust that we’re listening to them and working in their best interest to translate their vision into something that works for their users and for the medium they are using. Ultimately, a project needs to be about the end user (rather than any one individual’s personal opinions), and if we have our clients’ trust and understanding that we are working together to make something that communicates well to their user, there should be fewer revisions needed.

Staying profitable

All of our estimates are based on a certain number of hours that it typically takes us to create a specific deliverable. The unknown factor in a project is always how many changes are requested. Since our estimates are based on how much time we are investing, we can’t really include unlimited revisions because we need to make sure we don’t invest more time than we are being paid for. To attempt to meet out clients half way, I almost always include at least one round of revisions (because it is almost inevitable that there will be a least a few items that need tweaking). Additionally, we can always do as many revisions as needed for our clients. We’re not looking to rule our clients’ projects with an iron fist. However, it will cost more once we get past the quoted amount of revisions because, at that point, the project is taking more time than we’d estimated for. To sustain our business, we simply need to charge for that additional time.As a final note, we always want to try to get on the same page as our clients before beginning their projects. We truly want to understand your vision and work with you to translate it in the way that will engage your audience. We are always more than happy meet up with you before beginning a project to get to know each other in person and get on the same page about what you are looking for.