Most of times, all they want in a "fast, small new important feature to put in a new menu item". It's hard to make them realize that because you add new features, most of times the dynamic of the UI has to be rethought.
And it ends usually in an application with countless menus and modes even for these menus. So redesign is important, but how do you justify to your marketing (or head programmer) that they have to "pay" for a redesign of what they "paid" already months ago, just for one feature ?