The sequence
- Pause the affected portion of work — not necessarily the whole job.
- Document the discovered condition with photos and a written description.
- Price the change: labour, materials, equipment, and schedule impact.
- Present it to the customer with what it costs and what it delays.
- Obtain written approval before the work proceeds.
- Attach the approved change to the job so production, materials and billing all update.
Why verbal approval fails
It rarely fails at the moment. It fails at invoicing, when the customer remembers a conversation differently, or when the person who agreed was not the person paying. The crew was told to proceed, the work is done, and there is nothing to point to.
Written does not mean formal. A short message stating the change, the price and the schedule impact, replied to with agreement, is written approval.
Schedule impact is part of the change
A change order that adds two days and is priced only in dollars still costs you the following job. Stating the schedule impact at approval time protects the rest of the week and sets the customer's expectations before they are disappointed rather than after.
Change order or amendment?
A change order handles work that changed. An amendment handles terms that changed — payment schedule, dates, warranty, responsibilities. Confusing the two produces a document that prices work while quietly rewriting the deal, and that is where disputes start.
The small ones matter most
Nobody skips the change order on a fifteen-thousand-dollar addition. The discipline dies on the two-hundred-dollar extras — twenty of which is a crew week you gave away, and none of which appear anywhere in your reporting.