The extra work got done, but the change order never got written or paid.
If you've gone looking for an electrical change order template, you already know the form isn't the hard part. Getting it written while the job is moving is. So extra circuits, moved fixtures and added devices get installed, and the paperwork never catches up.
Sound familiar?
- The super asks for a few more receptacles or a dedicated circuit, and your crew just does it so the job keeps moving.
- The other trades are waiting on you, and the write-up feels like something that can happen later.
- By the time someone sits down to write it, nobody remembers exactly what was added, or who asked for it.
- Even the change orders you do send sit with the GC or the customer, and they get harder to collect the longer they sit.
What it costs you
You did the work and bought the material, and the money stays on the table. It comes straight out of what the job was supposed to make.
Small extras add up. One added circuit won't sink a job. A steady trickle of them across a project can.
Late paperwork invites arguments. The longer the gap between the work and the write-up, the easier it is for the other side to remember it differently.
And someone at your shop spends the end of the job rebuilding the story from texts, photos and daily notes, instead of getting ready for the next one.
Why it keeps happening
Extra work usually gets asked for out loud, on site, to whoever is standing closest. The foreman hears about it. The office doesn't.
Your crew is there to keep the job moving. Stopping to write things up feels like holding everyone else up.
The details are spread out: a foreman's memory, a camera roll, a text thread with the super. Turning that into a clean change order means pulling it all together.
Pricing the extra takes someone who knows the job and your numbers, and that person is almost always busy with something else.
Who you'll talk to
I'm Kevin Kirchner, and I'm the one on the other end of the call. I'll ask how extra work gets requested on your jobs, who hears about it first, and how it turns into paperwork, if it ever does.
Much of the desk work around change orders can get a lot lighter now. Your jobs and your GCs shape the rest, so it starts with a call.
Questions
Is there a good electrical change order template?
Templates are easy to find. The trouble usually isn't the form. It's that nobody has time to fill it out while the job is moving, so it gets done late or not at all.
Why doesn't my crew write up extra work in the field?
They're on site to install, and the job is moving. Writing things up feels like slowing everyone down, so it gets pushed to later, and later rarely comes.
Do you give legal or contract advice?
No. For questions about your contracts or what you're owed, talk to your attorney. The call is about how extra work gets tracked and written up at your shop.
What exactly do you build?
It depends on how you work today; we figure that out on the call.
Related shop headaches
See all shop headaches, or go back home.
Talk through your last change order
Walk me through the last change order on one of your jobs, from the request to the payment, or to the point where it stalled. We'll see together whether it's a fit.