When should a change order be signed?

Why after the fact does not work

A crew finds rotten decking. The homeowner says just replace it. The crew does, because they are good at their job and they are already on the roof. Nobody tells accounting.

Weeks later, the invoice includes the extra, or it does not. If it does, the customer remembers the conversation differently. If it does not, you did the work for free. Either way, you are arguing about money after the leverage is gone.

The order that works

Condition found. Photo attached. Scope adjusted. Price calculated. Customer approves. Work goes ahead. Accounting knows. Invoiced with the job.

Every step happens before or during the crew day, not six weeks later. The crew does not make a pricing decision on a ladder: they document, and the price comes from your rules or from the person who owns pricing.

Make the rules part of the job

Put the change-order rules in the job-start packet the crew gets before they arrive, with the scope, exclusions and photos. If the crew knows what was sold, they know what is extra.

Agree common extras in advance, such as a price per sheet of decking, so most change orders can be priced on site in a minute. Anything outside the list goes to the person who owns pricing, by phone, before work starts.

For bigger changes

On renovations and commercial work, the same rule holds with more steps: the project manager checks whether the change is owed, the trades price it, the schedule impact is worked out, and the customer approves a price before production goes ahead. Track every change as submitted, approved or rejected, and know how much work is being done before approval.