# Change order

*Also called: change orders, variation order, extra work order.*

**Definition.** A change order is a written amendment to a signed contract that adds, removes or alters work, and adjusts the price and schedule accordingly. It is the mechanism by which a job's final cost stops matching the bid you accepted.

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](https://quotrium.com/glossary/exclusion)
- [Scope of work](https://quotrium.com/glossary/scope-of-work)
- [Allowance](https://quotrium.com/glossary/allowance)
- [Unit price](https://quotrium.com/glossary/unit-price)

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Source: https://quotrium.com/glossary/change-order · Quotrium — Comparable quotes for property work