Unbilled change orders are pure lost profit. Learn how to document, price, and collect every change order so the extra work you do actually gets paid.
The customer asks for one more thing. It is small, so you just do it. Then they ask for another. By the end of the job you have done a few hundred dollars of unbilled work, and on every job that adds up to real money you never collected.
Change orders are not nickel and diming. They are how you get paid for work that was never in the original scope. Here is how to capture them without making the job awkward.
Most contractors skip change orders for two reasons. They do not want to slow the job down with paperwork, and they do not want to seem difficult to the customer. Both are understandable, and both cost you money. The fix is to make the change order fast and normal, so it feels like part of the job instead of a confrontation.
A change order is a tiny estimate. It needs material, labor, and your markup, same as the main job. Do not undercharge just because it is small. Small additions often carry more hassle per dollar, not less, because they interrupt your flow.
The faster and easier it is for the customer to approve a change, the more of them you collect. A simple approval they can tap on their phone beats a paper form you both forget about. When the original estimate and the change order live in the same place, nothing falls through the cracks and you get paid for everything you actually did.
Any work that was not in the original signed scope. If the customer adds, expands, or alters the job, that is a change order.
Yes. Small verbal favors are exactly the ones that get forgotten and never paid. A quick written approval protects you.
Like a small job: materials, labor, and your normal markup. Do not discount it just because it is small.