Ask any remodeler where their margin goes and the honest answer is often "the changes we didn't charge for." A verbal yes on site, a small extra nobody logged, a scope creep of a hundred little things — it adds up to real money, quietly given away. Disciplined change order management is one of the highest-leverage habits in construction.
Every change is priced and in writing
The rule is simple and non-negotiable: no work on a change until there's a written, priced change order. It captures the scope, the cost, and the timeline impact. This isn't bureaucracy — it's the difference between a professional operation and one that eats surprises.
- Document scope, cost, and schedule impact for every change
- Never start changed work on a verbal agreement
- Handle credits (negative change orders) with the same rigor
Get the client's approval on record
A change order the homeowner didn't clearly approve is a dispute waiting to happen. Send it for approval before work starts, and keep a clear record of what was agreed and when. When the change is approved in a portal the client logged into, there's no "I never agreed to that" months later.
Flow the change into the contract and budget
An approved change order should do more than sit in a folder — it should update the contract value and the job's budget so your job costing stays accurate. Otherwise your budget-vs-actual is comparing today's costs against yesterday's scope.
How BuildersBridge helps
In BuildersBridge you draft a priced change order, send it to the homeowner's portal for approval, and once approved it rolls its amount into the contract value and the project budget automatically. Credits are handled the same way. The single biggest source of lost residential profit — the change you forgot to charge for — is closed.