Change orders: the questions contractors ask

A change order is a written record of one change to a job that both sides have already agreed to. It says what changed, why, what the change costs, what the new job total is, what it does to the schedule, and how it is paid, and it carries both signatures. It is written before the work is done. On a small residential job it is one page.

A number, the date, the job and its address, the customer and the contractor, the original contract or quote date, the description of the change, the reason, the price of this change, the new job total, the effect on the schedule, the payment terms for the change, and two signatures with printed names and dates. The free template has every one of those as a box. Leave out the total and the argument moves to the final invoice.

Not quite. A quote prices a job before it starts. A change order records one change to a job that is already running, with the price of the change and the new total, and stays attached to that job. Several tools handle a change as a second estimate; that works when the approved lines end up on the original job and the customer signed the new total, and it fails when the estimate becomes a second record nobody merges. How the tools compare shows which does what.

Say the change as one line with one price and the new total, and get the customer's name or signature on that line before the work starts. On paper that is the one-page form, filled in at the door. On a phone it is a link the customer signs on their own screen. Volta Change Orders does the phone version for shops on Jobber: the tech says or types the change, the customer signs, and the line lands on the job. Either way, the record is the same.

Send the change to their phone in a form they can say yes to with the price in it: a link they can sign, or a photo of the filled form with a reply that names the price and the new total. A "yes, go ahead" that does not mention the number is consent to the work, not to the price. Keep the message with the job record.

No. The price is easiest to agree before the part is in and hardest after. Write the line, name the number, get the yes, then do the work. If the job cannot wait, say the price out loud, send the line to their phone, and do not invoice a number the customer has not seen.

Gather the texts and emails asking for the work, the invoice, and anything that shows the price was named before the work. The usual gap is the price: the texts show they wanted the work, not that they agreed the number. Send a plain statement of the change, the reason and the price, and ask for payment by a date. Past that, liens and small claims run on your state's rules, which differ a lot, so ask a construction attorney before filing anything. Next time, the signed line with the price is the whole fix.

It is an agreement to do the work. It is not an agreement on the price, and the price is what the argument will be about. If the work is not done yet, write the line with the number now and send it for a signature. If it is done, write it up now anyway, with the reason and the price, and send it before the invoice, so the customer sees the number on its own and not inside a bigger bill.

It does not force anyone to pay. What it does is remove the two usual arguments: what was agreed, and at what price. A customer who signed a line with a number and a new total is looking at their own signature when the invoice comes, and that is a different conversation. It also makes your own contract work for you when the contract says changes must be in writing.

That depends on the intent behind it and on the rules for your kind of contract in your state; electronic signatures on change orders sets out what the federal and state rules say. What is in your hands is the record: keep the text of the change, the price, the name, the time and the device it came from together, so there is no doubt about what was signed.

It is a record that the customer wanted the work. It usually names no price, so it settles nothing about the number. Put the price and the new total in the message the customer says yes to, or send a line they can sign. The e-signature page covers how text replies are treated.

Yes. California's home improvement contract law sets requirements for changes, including for service and repair work, and they are not the same as a plain signed page. The rule itself is on change orders under California law; this page does not restate it.

The ones a tech finds once the panel is open or the wall is cut: a part that failed on the way, a line that has to move, a code item the original quote could not see. Each one is priced the same way, as one line with one price and the new total, before the work. the HVAC page and the plumbing page go through the changes in each trade.

Jobber has no change-order feature. Shops either edit the job and add a note that the customer agreed, which leaves nothing signed, or send a second quote for the change, which the customer approves in client hub with a drawn or typed name and which then becomes a second job record. Adding the change to the original approved quote removes the customer's signature from it. Volta Change Orders adds the missing step for Jobber shops: the tech says or types the change on the job, the customer signs on their phone, and the line and a note land on the existing job.

No. Jobber's help page says the client's signature is removed from the quote and from client hub, the signed version is kept as a PDF in an internal note, and the quote goes back to Awaiting Response to be sent again. So do not add a change to the original quote. Send the change on its own, or record it on the job.

On paper, only if the form is in Spanish, and the free template on this site is in English. On a phone, Volta Change Orders shows the customer link in Spanish: the customer taps Español, reads the change, the price and the new total in Spanish, signs, and taps Approve. The help center is in Spanish too.