What was estimated
A :30. Two revisions. $22,000. Production — crew and studio — was $9,400, and it belongs beside the fee, not inside it. The cutdown and the end card were $6,200. Production booked the time. The estimate file did not change.
The invoice was whatever finance could still defend. The fee and the production cost were reconstructed from texts.
One change clears the line
$6,200 is already past the $5,000 a month that 30% of US agency leaders say they leave unbilled. This is one campaign, not a habit that needs a year to matter. 78% rarely or only sometimes charge for work that was not estimated. 1% bill all of it.
The account holds the people who can say yes, each with a buying role on the contact. The job holds the estimate, the statement of work, the rounds, and the expenses.
A cut with a signature
The cutdown is a $6,200 change order. One approver signs it on a link. Nothing goes to the client until an owner hits Approve. The invoice is drafted from the signed $22,000, the signed $6,200, and the $9,400 expense. If the client issued a purchase order, that invoice draws it down.
If they call, a known contact hears this campaign. An unknown caller hears the services marked sayable, and the published price. They do not get a seat.
Scope-to-invoice snapshot
The :30 was estimated. The cutdown was a text.
The estimate was a :30 and two revisions. Production was booked. The :15 and the end card were not on the estimate. The dollars are a worked example.
What the job contained
One campaign
- Estimate · :30, two revisions$22,000
Signed
- Cutdown and end card$6,200
Booked, not on the estimate
- Production$9,400
Expense, not the fee
Sent$22,000
Left off$6,200
Fee if the cut is signed$28,200
Bars are scaled to the $22,000 fee. Production stays $9,400 beside the fee, not inside it.
One change, one campaign
$6,200
already past the $5,000 a month that 30% of agencies say they leave unbilled.
- Agencies over that line
- 30%
- Rarely or sometimes charge
- 78%
- Bill every out-of-scope task
- 1%
This is one campaign, not a monthly retainer. The cutdown does not need a year of repetition to matter. It is already in the band a third of agency leaders report.
Where $6,200 sits
Share of agencies, by monthly amount left off the invoice
- $1,000–$5,000 a month57%
- More than $5,000 a month · This cutdown30%
The survey includes advertising agencies. 78% rarely or only sometimes charge for the work that was not estimated.
Sources
- Ignition. 2025 Agency Pricing & Cash Flow Report · 22 May 2025
- The Drum. Cash flow crunch: US agencies struggle to grow as late payments and scope creep bite · 2025
Unbilled bands and out-of-scope billing: Ignition, April 2025, 273 US agency leaders. The 1% who bill all out-of-scope work: The Drum, citing that report. The dollars are an example.
Before and after
Turn the agency leak into an operating workflow.
The research above shows the financial risk. The product workflow is deliberately simple: connect the deal to delivery, watch utilization and budget while the work is live, approve the change, sign it, and invoice it.
Before
A deal is won in CRM, then delivery rebuilds the project plan by hand.
With Blinkdots
The proposal becomes a live job with scope, staffing, rates, and invoice rules attached.
Before
Over-servicing is invisible until utilization and budget reports are reviewed later.
With Blinkdots
Billable time, WIP, and scope risk stay visible while the work is still moving.
Before
Extra requests land in chat, meetings, or tickets and become invoice-day arguments.
With Blinkdots
AI drafts the change, an owner approves it, and the client signs before it becomes a line.
Rollout
Start with one active job, not a migration project.
- 01Import accounts, contacts, services, and rates.
- 02Start with one won deal or active job and its signed scope.
- 03Connect Slack, Teams, Jira, or Zapier only where the team already works.
- 04Approve the first change order and watch the invoice draft from the job record.
Seats and the voice line are on the pricing page. Clients are not seats. Book a demo to see the job on one record.
Questions
- How does an agency bill a cutdown that was not on the estimate?
- As a change order on that campaign. In the example the cut is $6,200, and production stays a $9,400 billable expense. The client signs on a link. The invoice uses the signed lines and that expense.
- Can four approvers live on one account?
- Yes. Each one is a contact, with a buying role. They sign a link. They do not get logins, and they are not seats.
- Does the studio send the new estimate on its own?
- No. A drafter can prepare it. An owner hits Approve. AI Agent can draft from the job. It does not send.
