Scope boundaries, change management, and out-of-scope rates for all CHROMIAL consulting engagements. Clear terms protect your timeline and budget as much as they protect ours.
Any request, task, deliverable, or activity not explicitly defined in the agreed Statement of Work is out-of-scope. If you request work outside the defined scope, CHROMIAL will notify you and provide a written Change Order detailing the additional effort, cost, and timeline impact. No out-of-scope work begins without a mutually approved Change Order.
If you instruct CHROMIAL to proceed with out-of-scope work prior to Change Order approval, CHROMIAL may treat that work as billable out-of-scope time at the rates below, plus the unauthorized expansion surcharge. This is not a punitive measure - it prevents scope drift from quietly absorbing the capacity reserved for your core deliverables.
Undefined scope expansion is the primary reason consulting engagements run over budget and under-deliver. The Change Order process exists to protect your timeline. When scope grows without acknowledgment, the original deliverables shrink. We would rather have a short conversation about cost than a long conversation about why the project slipped.
"Any request not written in the SOW is a new request, not a clarification of an existing one."
The following categories are excluded from all CHROMIAL engagements unless explicitly added by signed Change Order. These exclusions exist to keep fixed-scope work fixed.
All work outside the agreed SOW is billed at the following rates. No out-of-scope work begins without a signed Change Order.
| Work Type | Rate | Minimum |
|---|---|---|
| Standard out-of-scope advisory Analysis, documentation, structured interviews outside agreed scope |
$350/hr | 4 hours |
| Priority response Work requested and required within 2 business days |
$500/hr | 4 hours |
| After-hours / weekend work Outside 9am-6pm ET, Monday-Friday |
$700/hr | 4 hours |
| Unscoped system or domain discovery Any system, module, or operational domain not listed in the SOW |
$3,500 per domain | - |
| Implementation advisory Technical guidance on implementing documented rules or workflows |
$450/hr | 4 hours |
| Compliance remediation advisory Guidance on closing identified compliance gaps beyond documented rules |
$600/hr | 4 hours |
| Unapproved scope expansion surcharge Applied when work proceeds before Change Order is signed |
+20% on all out-of-scope hours | - |
| Context-switching fee When new requests interrupt planned delivery work mid-sprint |
$750 per interruption | - |
Core engagement fees (Rules Audit, Rules Register, Compliance Gap Analysis, Operational Flow Map) are fixed-fee and scoped in writing before work begins. The rates above apply only to work outside that agreed scope.
The following clause appears in all CHROMIAL Statements of Work. It can be quoted verbatim in any change request communication.
Any request, task, deliverable, or activity not explicitly defined in this Statement of Work shall be considered out-of-scope. If the Client requests work outside the defined scope, CHROMIAL will notify the Client and provide a written Change Order detailing the additional effort, cost, and timeline impact. No out-of-scope work will be performed without a mutually approved Change Order. If the Client instructs CHROMIAL to proceed prior to formal Change Order approval, CHROMIAL may treat such work as billable out-of-scope work at the rates defined in CHROMIAL's current Engagement Terms. Out-of-scope work is billed at CHROMIAL's standard out-of-scope rate with a four-hour minimum unless otherwise specified. CHROMIAL is not obligated to absorb additional work, extend timelines, or expand deliverables without an approved Change Order.
Every engagement begins with a scoping conversation. We define the fence line clearly before any work starts.