Every Change Belongs in Writing, Even the Ones You Choose

The Rivera house is a fictional example. The people, the lot, and the numbers are made up, and the problems are the kind that turn up on real projects.

Most advice about change orders assumes the change comes from the builder: something extra, a price you didn't expect. This one's about the other kind. The change you make yourself, on purpose, and never write down. The Riveras made two.

The driveway

The Rivera drawings show a gravel driveway. While the concrete sub was on site for the garage slab, they offered to pour a concrete driveway too. They already had the crew and the equipment there, the price sounded good, and Alex and Sam said yes on the spot.

It was probably a good deal. But nothing went on paper. There's no record of the price, whether it ran through the builder's contract or straight to the sub, who stands behind it if it cracks, or how it changed the grading and drainage around the garage. The drawings still show gravel. If you want the longer version of why deals with subs need to go through your builder, see Don't make deals with the subs.

The split level

Once excavation started, the lot turned out steeper than the topographic survey showed. Building the house as drawn would have meant a tall concrete wall at the back, so the plan changed in the field: the great room and kitchen dropped a few feet below the entry and garage, and the house became a split level.

That's a good decision made quickly, which is how a lot of field changes happen. But it changed the foundation, the framing, and the stairs, and it was never issued as a revised drawing or written up as a change. The early budget didn't include it either. For more on that, see The budget that didn't match the site.

Why it matters, even when it's your choice

When you're the one making the call, writing it down feels like paperwork for paperwork's sake. You know what you decided. But a change on paper does a few things memory can't.

It records the price. Adding something is a cost. Dropping something should usually be a credit. If nobody writes down what the change was worth, nobody can check that the contract amount reflects it. On a cost plus or GMP job, the costs show up in the billing, but unless the change is written up, the estimate or the GMP doesn't get adjusted to match, so nobody can see what the change was worth.

It records what else it touches. A concrete driveway changes how water moves around the garage. A split level changes the foundation, the stairs, and the framing. A change that seems small in one trade can matter to another. Writing it down is the moment you stop and ask what else it affects.

It records who stands behind it. Work done outside the builder's contract may not be covered by the builder's warranty. If the driveway cracks in year two, the first question will be whose work it was.

It keeps the drawings honest. Years from now, someone will open those drawings to plan a remodel, sell the house, or fix a problem. If the drawings show a gravel driveway and a single-level main floor, they'll be working from bad information.

It protects the relationship. An unwritten change is the start of a disagreement. You remember the sub saying the driveway was included. The builder remembers it as an extra. The final invoice settles it, and not in a way either of you enjoys.

What a written change should say

It doesn't need to be long. A change document that does its job covers:

• What's being changed, in plain words, with the drawing sheet it affects
• Who asked for it
• The price, as a cost or a credit, including any markup
• Any effect on the schedule
• What else it touches: other trades, inspections, warranties
• Signatures from both sides, before the work changes

That last line is the one that slips. On a busy job, changes get agreed on site and written up later, or never. The rule worth holding to is simple: nothing changes in the field until it's on paper. That includes the changes you ask for. If you want the longer version, see Requests aren't change orders until they're priced.

None of this is legal advice. How changes have to be documented depends on your contract, and a disagreement about it is a question for a construction attorney.

Questions worth asking

• Has anything on the drawings been added, dropped, or changed without a written change document?
• For each change I've asked for, is there a price, even if it's a credit?
• Was any work agreed directly with a sub, and is it in your contract and your warranty?
• Does this change affect any other trade, inspection, or warranty?
• Will the drawings or the closeout records be updated to show what was actually built?