Change orders in Jobber: how they work today, and with Volta Change Orders

How change orders work in Jobber today

Jobber's help center has no change-order article. Its Quotes section covers quote basics, quote templates, quote approvals, optional line items and converting a quote to a job, and that is the whole list. Jobber's academy page What is a change order explains the idea and offers a template to print; it gives no in-product steps. So shops use one of two paths.

Path one: edit the job and add a note

Add the extra line to the job that is already running and write an internal note that the customer agreed. It is fast. The customer signs nothing, so when the invoice comes in above the quote there is no record that they approved the number. Jobber users describe exactly this on Jobber's own community, on a request for a change-order feature that Jobber's product team has acknowledged and that is still open.

Path two: a second quote, approved in client hub

Jobber's help pages describe this path. A quote can be started in the office or in the field: "Tap the + icon in the corner of the app, then select Quote" (Quotes in the Jobber App). The customer approves it in client hub from an emailed or texted link, and "can select to draw or type their name to approve"; in person, the tech can collect a signature on their own device (Quote Approvals). After approval, the quote is converted to a job by hand. The change becomes a second job record, not a line on the job that is running.

The catch on the original quote

Adding the change to the original, approved quote undoes the approval. Jobber's page says "the client's signature will be removed from the quote's signature line 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. A customer who taps Request Changes hides the quote: it "will no longer be visible in the client hub". A verbal yes can be recorded by marking the quote approved by hand, with no signature behind it.

Spanish

Jobber's Spanish is for the crew. Its FAQ says "Spanish is only available to non-admins, in the Jobber mobile app" (Spanish language Jobber mobile app FAQ). Spanish for the customer is not stated on their page.

How it works with Volta Change Orders

On the tech's phone

The tech opens the app on the job and presses New change. The job list comes from Jobber, so the job has to exist there first. The first time, the app asks Speak it or Type it, and remembers; a switch under the button changes it any time. The tech says the change, then the price, in one breath: the fan moved to the north wall, then the number. The app shows one line and one price, with the new job total beside it. Wrong? Tap Fix it. A photo of the part or the spot can be added. Then Send to customer, and Send the link: the phone's own share sheet opens and the text goes out from the tech's messages app, to the customer's number.

On the customer's phone

The link opens in their browser. They see the job name, the change in one line, the price of this change, the new job total, and the photo if there is one. They sign with a finger or type their name, then tap Approve. Or they tap Not now and pick a reason: Too expensive, Not needed, Call me first, Other. There is no app to install and nothing to log in to. Español at the top switches the page to Spanish; English switches back.

On the job in Jobber

Nothing is written until the customer approves. Then the app adds one line to the job, named "Change order" with its number and the change in the tech's words, and writes a note with the approval record: who approved, when, from where, and the signature. The tech's list reads "Approved, on the job". If the link sits unopened, the list offers Resend, and the tech sends it again from their phone. Every change keeps its number, its time and its name in a list the shop can open any time.

Disconnecting

Two ways, same result: Disconnect from Jobber inside the app, or from the app's page in Jobber's App Marketplace. The keys Jobber gave us are deleted at once. Every job and change we hold for you is deleted within 30 days by a logged purge, sooner on request by email. The approval records are kept as proof for as long as the law requires. Your Jobber data is never touched. The help center has the setup guide, the questions shops ask, and the fixes, in English and Spanish.

What it writes to Jobber, and what it never writes

The consent screen in Jobber shows three permissions: read clients, read jobs, write jobs. Nothing else is asked for. The privacy page carries the full list under "If you connect Jobber"; this is the short one.

• Reads: your account name and the id of the admin who connected the app; your jobs (title, number, total); and, for the client on a job, the name and the phone number or email your team uses to send the link.
• Never reads: quotes, invoices, payments, schedules, time sheets, other users, or any other Jobber data.
• Writes: only a change the customer approved, as one line on the job and a note that says who approved it and when. Nothing is written before approval.
• Never writes: an edit to anything already on the job, including its own lines. Nothing is removed. Nothing unapproved is written.
• Invoices: untouched. Jobber carries the job's lines onto the invoice when you invoice the job, the same as any other line.
• Photos and signatures: kept on our side. The photo sits in private storage and is shown to the customer through a link that expires; the signature stays with the approval record.
• Keys: the access keys Jobber issues are kept in an encrypted secret store, readable only by the app's own server, and deleted the moment you disconnect.

What it costs

Free until your first approved change order. The price after that is stated on the app's listing in Jobber's App Marketplace, not here, so a number on this page can never be out of date.

Who it is for

Shops on Jobber's Core plan or higher, with an admin login to connect. It is built for service and repair work on homes, where a change is one line and one price: HVAC, plumbing, electrical and the trades like them. The tech's phone needs a browser; there is no app to install, for the tech or for the customer.

It is not a contract tool. It does not replace a written contract, and it does not do quotes, submittals, drawings or progress billing. Jobber still does the invoice. For how it compares with the change-order features of other tools, see how the tools compare; for the paper version of the same record, the free template.

Jobber is a trademark of Jobber Software Inc. Volta Orbit is not affiliated with Jobber.

Setup, in five steps

Once the app is listed, setup runs from Connect in Jobber to the first approved change.

1. Connect. In Jobber's App Marketplace, open Volta Change Orders and press Connect.
2. Allow the three permissions. Jobber shows what the app may do: read clients, read jobs, write jobs. Allow them. Jobber brings you back to the app, connected.
3. Start a change. Press New change, tap the job it belongs to, and choose Speak it or Type it. The app asks once and remembers.
4. Say or type the change and the price. The app shows one line and one price, with the new job total beside it. Add a photo if it helps. Press Send to customer, then Send the link from your own messages app.
5. The customer approves. They open the link, sign with a finger or type their name, and tap Approve. The line and the note appear on the job in Jobber.

Questions

More on change orders