Charging for Custom Features

A client wants a design feature I haven’t tried before. Should I charge the amount of time it’s going to take me to figure this out?

Some designers charge for the time it takes to learn something and some don’t, so it’s really up to you!

I try to estimate based on the hours already booked whether or not it’s going to be crazy. If I think it’s going to go over budget, I’ll let the client know by saying, “I just want to let you know that in order for me to add this feature, it might be an extra hour.” That way, the client can decide if they want to pay extra for that feature.

In cases where I want to add something because I know it’ll elevate the design, I won’t charge the client since they didn’t necessarily ask for it.