How to price an extra workshop before it becomes a promise

A worked consulting scope-change example connects deliverables, effort, fees and the version a client reviews.

ContractCanvas insights

Start with the deliverable, not the calendar invitation

An extra workshop can look like a small addition to a consulting engagement. It can also require preparation, interviews, analysis and another round of review. Before offering a price, write down what the additional session produces, who attends, what the client supplies and how the output will be accepted. A two-hour meeting is not necessarily two hours of delivery effort.

Put the change beside the original scope

Consider a sample engagement priced at CAD 12,000 with CAD 7,000 in direct delivery cost. Its direct contribution is CAD 5,000, or 41.67% of the fee. The client asks for another workshop. The delivery lead estimates ten additional analyst hours at CAD 70 per hour, taking direct cost to CAD 7,700. With no additional fee, contribution falls to CAD 4,300, or 35.83%. Example workflow.

Make the commercial choice explicit

If the firm charges CAD 1,000 for the added work, the revised fee is CAD 13,000. Contribution becomes CAD 5,300, or 40.77%. The amendment increases contribution in dollars but leaves the percentage slightly below the original plan. To preserve a 40% direct contribution rate, divide CAD 7,700 by 0.60: the resulting total fee is CAD 12,833.33. A target percentage is a management choice; neither calculation tells the firm what the client will accept.

Record what the new fee buys

The change description should include the workshop output, extra preparation, any additional review round and the resulting delivery date. State what stays unchanged. If the client has not supplied participant availability or source materials, record the dependency instead of quietly absorbing the resulting delay. Name the person who can approve the revision on each side.

Preserve the approved version

Keep the original terms available. Create a revised draft, review the fee and scope together, and issue documents from the approved revision. A pipeline stage such as Negotiation is not approval. When the client asks which version applies, the firm should be able to identify the actual document and decision, rather than reconstructing the answer from email.

Try the same decision in the prototype

Use a sample engagement in ContractCanvas, enter the original fee and effort, and inspect Pricing before changing the scope. Add the workshop, review the revised assumptions, then compare the approved versions and their outputs. Record where the process adds work or leaves a field unclear. Direct contribution excludes company overhead, tax, acquisition and other costs; it is not net profit. The beta records review decisions; signing follows the agreed contract process.