Also called: change orders, variation order, extra work order.
Change orders come from three places: a genuine unknown that could not be seen before demolition, a change you asked for, and work that was left out of the scope in the first place. Only the first is unavoidable.
Their commercial character is different from a bid. When a change order lands, the crew is on site, the roof is open, and nobody else is bidding — so the price is negotiated from the weakest possible position.
Every change order should be written and approved before the work happens, with its own price and its own schedule impact. A verbal "we found some rot, we'll take care of it" becomes a line on an invoice that is very hard to argue with.
Why it matters
The change-order rate is the real measure of how good a scope was. A tight, honest scope where the unknowns were named up front produces few of them; a one-line scope produces a steady stream, each priced without competition.
Related terms
- Exclusion — An exclusion is work a contractor has explicitly stated their price does not cover. Exclusions are a legitimate and normal part of a bid — the danger is not that they exist, but that they are easy to miss.
- Scope of work — A scope of work is the written, itemised description of exactly what a contractor will do on a job — the tasks, the materials, the quantities and the conditions. It is what a price is a price for.
- Allowance — An allowance is a placeholder amount included in a bid for work or materials that have not been specified yet — a budget line to be reconciled against the actual cost once the choice is made.
- Unit price — A unit price is a per-unit rate — per square foot, per linear foot, per sheet, per fixture — agreed in advance so that work of unknown quantity can be priced without renegotiation.
Quotrium drafts the scope, sends it to the contractors you pick, and scores every bid against it line by line. See how it works.