Change Orders: Approve Extra Work Before Starting

Example: During a remodel, a customer asks for two additional outlets. The crew installs them, but the final invoice is the first written record of the added price. The customer agrees that the outlets were requested and disputes the charge.

A change order records an agreed change to an existing contract. Use it to identify what is added, removed, or substituted and how the deal changes. Obtain the approval required by the contract and applicable law before the changed work starts.

Compare the request with the original agreement

Find the accepted quote, contract, and scope attachments. Decide whether the request is additional work, an allowance selection, a substitution, a clarification, or correction of work already owed. A contractor's own nonconforming work is not automatically a customer-funded extra.

Record the reason, affected area, photographs, and decision needed. Confirm who has authority to approve: a tenant, site employee, designer, or subcontractor may lack authority to change the customer's contract.

Use the trade-contract checklist to review the existing change procedure. If the field condition conflicts with the drawing, the plans-versus-field guide helps document the question before choosing a remedy.

Write a change that can be priced and performed

A change order should identify the project, parties, original agreement, change number, revision, and supporting exhibits. Then state:

1. Changed work: precise additions, deletions, substitutions, and replaced documents.
2. Money: add or credit, included fees and tax where applicable, and revised cumulative contract total.
3. Payment: when the change amount becomes due and any effect on progress payments or retainage.
4. Time: schedule effect, new milestones or completion date, or a clearly identified unresolved dependency.
5. Approval: required signatures, roles, dates, and the exact version accepted.

Illustrative record for appropriate contract review:

CO-03 adds two outlets at the locations shown on sketch E-02, replacing the relevant scope in proposal revision 2. Add $480; revised contract total $8,980. Payment is due at the next agreed electrical milestone. Completion extends by one working day, subject to the listed inspection dependency. All other terms remain as stated in the original agreement.

Those figures are an example, not an electrical price or a complete statutory form. Attach applicable specifications and resolve the inspection, permit, and safety requirements before release.

Check the rules for this transaction

A short operational form may need substantial state-specific content around it. Examples illustrate why one national signature script is insufficient:

• California: CSLB's Contracting for Success guide describes written, signed change orders before covered new work, identifying scope, price, and payment effects. The guide also explains required notices and possible legal or equitable recovery; missing paperwork does not justify a blanket prediction about every dispute. Qualifying service-and-repair transactions have a separate statutory framework.
• New York: General Business Law §771 requires covered home-improvement agreements and amendments to be written and signed by all parties. Material completion-date contingencies and incorporated documents also matter.
• Maryland: Commercial Law §14-301.1(5) conditions the door-to-door change-order exemption on more than an agreed written change under a previously signed contract. It also requires a separate dated, signed statement in the buyer's handwriting describing the change and expressly acknowledging and waiving the applicable cancellation right. Do not assume a standard change form supplies that exemption.

Federal cancellation rights require their own applicability review. The FTC Cooling-Off Rule guidance describes covered home and temporary-location sales and important exclusions. State rights can differ. Supply a suitable cancellation notice when required; do not treat “extra work” as an automatic exception.

For electronic approval, 15 U.S.C. §7001 provides a general electronic-record and signature baseline while preserving other legal requirements and consumer protections. Tie approval to the complete issued version and preserve attribution, authority, required consent, delivery, and accessible records. A casual “go ahead” message may leave essential terms unresolved.

Release, perform, and bill the same change

After approval, issue the revised work order and relevant documents to the crew. Keep the accepted version with the original agreement. Show the change number separately on the invoice and carry unfinished items into the completion signoff.

If approval is refused, do not quietly perform the extra. Identify what can continue safely and contractually, and follow the required notice process if the refusal blocks the job. An emergency may require stabilization, but does not automatically waive licensing, approval, payment, or cancellation rules. Record the condition, decision maker, limited work, and cost basis, then follow the applicable process.