Construction Change Order Forms

... and why they're a must-have for changes on a project

By Diane Dennis

As mentioned above, construction change order forms are a very important part of the construction process

When your customer asks you to do extra work, if you don't use a change order form you could end up not getting paid for that extra work.

... and who can afford to work for free??

When you put the requested changes in writing along with the cost and then get your customer's signature, there's no "weasel-ing out" on the customer's part when it comes time to payment.

Just show them a copy of the change order form with their signature on it and they can't claim that you did the extra work without their authorization.

You'll want to be sure that the change order form has:

• A complete description of the extra work

• Materials involved

• Time involved if you'll need to extend the original estimated completion date
  

• The original amount of the contract

• The price of the extra work, and the new total contract amount
  

The more information you provide in the construction change order form, the better chance there will be no misunderstandings at a later date.

A 'gotcha' in regard to change order forms...

When obtaining a signature on a change order form make certain that the person signing the change order form has the legal right to contract for your customer.

My suggestion is to insist that the names of all that have that legal right are listed in the contract (or an addendum to the contract).

If you get a signature from someone and that someone (even the superintendent if there is one) does not have the legal right to contract for your customer then you could be left holding the bag.

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