Guide
What belongs on a change order
A change order is the piece of paper that keeps an extra from becoming an argument at the end of the job. It's a page long, and eight things belong on it.
The eight
- A number, in sequence. CO-001, CO-002, on that job, never reused. When you're asked in November what happened in July, the number is how you find it.
- The job and the date. Which job, and the day it went to the client.
- What changed, in a sentence a client understands. "Covered porch at the rear entry", not "misc. carpentry revisions".
- Why. Client asked, site condition, drawing conflict, inspector's requirement. Six months later this is the line that settles who pays.
- The price, and how it was worked out. Labour, materials, subs, and your markup if the contract has one. A single number invites haggling; a short breakdown usually ends it.
- The effect on the schedule. In days. An extra that adds a week to the job is not free even when the client pays for the work, and this is the line that keeps the completion date honest.
- Where the money comes from. Either it adds to the contract value, or it comes out of the contingency the client already agreed to. Say which. This is the single most common reason two people read the same change order differently.
- Signature lines, with names and dates. Yours and the client's.
Get it signed before the work
The whole point is a decision on record before the cost exists. Once the porch is framed, a change order stops being a question and becomes an invoice the client didn't agree to. When the work genuinely can't wait, send it anyway, mark it clearly, and record when the client said yes — including a text message, if that's what you have.
When the client sits on it
Set your own limit — a week is common — and chase at it. Two things stop being true while a change order waits: the price you quoted, if materials moved, and the schedule, if the work had to be started or skipped in the meantime. Say both when you chase, and put an expiry date on the price when it matters.
Keeping the numbering straight
Number them when they go out, not when they come back approved. A declined change order keeps its number, and the record keeps the decline: the next question from a client is usually "what happened to that porch?", and a gap in the numbers is a worse answer than a declined one.
How Millo does it
Millo numbers each change order on the job, keeps the price, the schedule days and where the money comes from on it, and prints it as a PDF with your logo and a signature page. Approve one and the job's contract value moves with it; one that's waited too long shows up on the list of things that need you. Millo is job-costing software that runs on your own office computer, bought once.