Talk to ten contractors and at least seven of them have a change-order horror story. Scope grew by phone call, nobody wrote it down, the client got the final invoice and pushed back. The work was real, the cost was real, but the documentation didn't exist.
Why change orders go sideways
The pattern is almost always the same:
- Client requests a change in a text or on-site conversation.
- Crew does the work because that's what crews do.
- Nobody priced it formally or got a signature.
- The change shows up as a surprise on the final invoice.
- Client disputes, you eat half of it to keep the relationship.
This isn't a personality problem. It's a process problem. The tools most contractors use treat change orders as paperwork, not as a flow.
What a real change-order process looks like
- Capture the request the moment it happens. On site, by phone, by email — whatever. The instant you hear "can we also...", a change order draft gets started.
- Price it before the work begins. Even a quick estimate is better than nothing. Materials, hours, a markup, total.
- Send it as a signed document. Not a text. Not "I'll add it to the invoice." A PDF with a clear scope and an e-signature line.
- Wait for the signature before the work starts — or document explicitly that the client approved verbally and signs at next visit.
- Update the budget. Once signed, the change flows into job costing as new contract value and new cost lines.
The cost of skipping the process
On a $60,000 remodel, three or four undocumented changes can easily add up to $4,000–$8,000. That's typically your entire margin on the job. The math says it's worth ten minutes of paperwork per change.
Use the same flow you use for estimates
The reason most contractors don't run a clean change-order process is that it feels like extra software. The fix is to use the same flow as your estimates — see change orders in SiteView. Same PDF look, same e-signature, same client portal. There's nothing new for the client to learn.
Templates speed it up
The biggest accelerator is having a few change-order templates ready to go — "tile upgrade," "additional electrical," "extra demo day" — so building one takes a minute, not fifteen.
The bottom line
A signed change order is the cheapest insurance in the construction business. If your current tools don't make it easy to send and sign one, that's the first part of your workflow worth upgrading.