Can we talk about how we used to handle change orders?

For years, I did them with a quick email or a handshake. After a kitchen remodel in Tampa went sideways over a $2,500 cabinet upgrade, I switched. Now every single change, even for $100, gets a signed addendum before any work starts. It saved me from a huge dispute just last month. How do you all handle small changes to keep things clear?

3 comments

3 Comments

black.beth1mo ago

Used to think a quick text was fine for small stuff. Learned the hard way after a client argued about extra paint costs on a bathroom job. Now I make them sign a simple one page form for anything over fifty bucks, no exceptions. It feels like overkill sometimes but it saves so many headaches later.

taylor.jordan1mo ago

But @black.beth, all that paperwork for fifty bucks must slow you down more than the rare argument ever would.

shanel1321d ago

Remember my uncle trying to sell a lawnmower for a hundred bucks to a guy from work. They shook on it, but then the buyer claimed it was only eighty. My uncle lost a friend and forty minutes of his life he'll never get back arguing in a driveway. A scrap of paper with the price written down would have fixed it.