Free change order template: PDF, Word, or fill it in on your phone

Download the form

The PDF prints on Letter paper. The Word file can be edited, so your shop's name can go on it once. The fillable page works in any phone or computer browser: tap a box, type, then Print or save as PDF. It sends nothing anywhere; there is no account, no email address and no sign-up.

California

California has its own rules for changes to home improvement contracts. This page does not restate them; see change orders under California law for the rule.

What is on the form, and why

• Change order number. Changes are numbered per job, starting at 1, so the invoice can say which pages the customer signed.
• Date. The day the change was agreed, which is before the day the work was done.
• Job, job address, customer, contractor. These tie the page to one job and one contract, so it cannot be read as a new agreement.
• Original contract or quote date. Names the agreement this change belongs to.
• Description of the change. What is added, removed or changed, in plain words, materials and labor included. One change per page.
• Reason for the change. What was found, or what the customer asked for. This is the line that stops "we never asked for that" later.
• Price of this change. The amount added to or taken off the job. "No change" is a valid entry.
• New job total. The original total plus or minus every approved change so far, including this one. The customer approves the new total, not only the added amount, so there is no surprise at the final bill.
• Effect on the schedule. Extra days, a new completion date, or "no change".
• Payment for this change. When it is due and how: with the next progress payment, on completion, or another way you both agree.
• Two signatures, with printed names and dates. The customer's and the contractor's. Work described on the page does not start until both are on it.

How to use it on site, in three steps

1. Write the change before any tool comes out. One change per page. One line for what changes, one number for what it costs, and the new job total beside it. Put the reason in, in the customer's own words if they asked for it.
2. Read it with the customer and get both signatures. Go through the page with the customer at the door or the kitchen table. Both sign, with printed names and the date. Give them a copy; a photo of the signed page sent to their phone is a copy.
3. Put it on the job record the same day. Add the approved change to the job in your system as its own numbered line, and keep the signed page with the job. When you invoice, the extra lines match the pages the customer signed.

When paper is enough, and when a phone flow is better

Paper is enough when the customer is standing next to you, the change is one line, and the office does not mind typing it into the job later. A phone flow is better when the customer is not on site, when you want the approval on the job record without retyping, or when the customer reads Spanish and you do not. Volta Change Orders does that for shops on Jobber: the tech says or types the change, the customer signs on their own phone, and the approved line and a note land on the job in Jobber. The help center shows the steps. Either way, the record is the same: one change, one price, the new total, a name and a time.

More on change orders