Digital KitchenThe Client Reply KitCheck the requested deadline against the work, dependencies and your actual capacity before committing. If you can meet it, state the assessed offer and conditions. If you cannot, offer a feasible date or a smaller agreed deliverable when appropriate. Do not add a rush fee or a faster delivery promise unless you have decided both.
Check feasibility before replying with a promise
A faster deadline changes a project only when you accept it. Start by identifying what the client needs on that date: a concept review, final design files or a live website. Those milestones require different amounts of work and different people.
Check required content, review time, decision availability, other project commitments and any implementation responsibility. A client promising fast feedback is not the same as having supplied it. If a date depends on a third party, make that dependency visible.
Do not estimate the new timeline by subtracting days from the existing one. Identify which steps would change and whether the result would still cover the agreed deliverable. If you do not have enough information, ask for it before offering a date.
Choose an option you can actually deliver
| Your assessment | What to communicate |
|---|---|
| The full work can fit | The assessed delivery date, requirements and any separately decided price change |
| Only a smaller milestone can fit | The exact smaller deliverable and what remains for later |
| The deadline cannot fit | A feasible date without promising the impossible |
| Requirements are incomplete | The missing information needed before assessment |
A smaller deliverable is an offer to discuss, not a unilateral removal of work the client already bought. Record an accepted change through the project’s actual approval process.
An email when you cannot meet the rush date
Subject: [Project] requested delivery date
Hi [contact], I cannot deliver [specific full deliverable] by [requested date]. The earliest date I can offer for that work is [feasible date], subject to [actual requirements]. [Optional: I can assess a smaller milestone for your requested date if you confirm which item is essential.] Please let me know which option you would like me to assess. The current schedule remains [actual status] until a change is agreed. [Your name]
Remove the smaller-milestone option if you cannot offer it. “Earliest date I can offer” should be based on checked capacity, not a date the template supplies.
Example: final screens are requested three days earlier
In a fictional project, Northline’s final screens are scheduled for October 20. Alex asks for October 17. Maya checks her commitments and cannot deliver the full set early, but can offer an October 17 review of the already scheduled homepage concept.
Subject: Northline: October 17 request
Hi Alex, I cannot deliver the full final screen set by October 17. The agreed October 20 final-screen date is still feasible with the current review plan. I can offer the scheduled homepage concept for review on October 17. That would be a review milestone, not the full final delivery. Would that help with your meeting? Maya
The example distinguishes something useful for a meeting from something ready for final handoff. It does not invent a rush charge or claim that working faster has no effect on other commitments.
What if the client offers to pay more?
Additional payment does not establish capacity. Assess feasibility first; then decide whether to offer the accelerated work and on what terms. If you choose a rush fee, identify the actual additional amount and what schedule it covers.
What if the delay was mine?
Acknowledge the part you caused and give a feasible recovery plan. Do not describe a correction to your missed commitment as an extra service simply because the remaining timeline is now short.
What should the final check cover?
Confirm the milestone, dates, required client inputs, review process, fee if any and effect on the rest of the project. An accepted deadline and a deadline requested by the client are different states.