By Jack Rubinger

 No one ever said that documentation is the most fun part of business, but documentation and clear communications separate the amateurs from the professionals.

Even a job as simple and straightforward as a roof repair can be botched when follow-up documents are misleading, filled with industry jargon or are slow in their delivery.

Using the “I’m very busy” excuse is inexcusable, too, as everyone is busy.

Effective change order processes help create strong and positive customer relationships, make your business seem more professional, and add to your bottom line as you become more procedure-oriented when it comes to billing for changes to scope of work. 

Some use templates, which are a good idea. They’re professional-looking, easily available online and put the small subcontractor on a level-playing field with the big outfit who also have a dedicated customer service phone number, text/phone follow-up, and estimation services.

Best practices dictate that standard change orders should include 

• the job name, 
• address and phone number, 
• owner’s name, 
• a complete description of new work to be performed, 
• total price for materials and labor to complete the change, 
• revised date of completion due to the change order, and 
• signatures of the company representative.

Often change orders stem from the owner’s additional words, omissions in design, lack of coordination between parties, and defective workmanship.

“The number one reason for change orders or RFIs is poor planning, essentially short term planning,” said Ed Anderson, AWP Lean Specialist.

Robert Camp, Getting To Lean, believes that good contracts are the result of good relationships. By contrast, Camp believes that adversarial relations between the prime and subs, or between subs, lead to changes, delays and overruns.  

“Great contractors don’t originate from good luck or even hard work,” said Camp. “They originate in the desire to be great and to accept nothing less from themselves. The corollary to that axiom is that, to be best, you have to surround yourself with subs who can tell you are the best.”

Camp offered these four tips/suggestions for a better communication/documentation process to improve relationships between prime and subs.

1. Choose who you work with:  The first concern is that too many (and sometimes un(der)qualified) contractors are on the initial bid list. Review your list and reduce the number of contractors to whom the bid goes out. To the extent possible, the revised list should only include the contractors who have previously

demonstrated the ability to meet your quality and delivery criteria. 

2. Don’t make awards on the basis of bid ($) alone, but on previously demonstrated ability. To pay the least for work that delays other subs, or the overall project, is a pyrrhic victory.  

3. Establish a minimum quality threshold based on a contractor’s demonstrated ability to perform quality work (as evidenced by the fewest contractor-required change orders on previous work).  

4. Examine each contractor’s previously demonstrated ability to complete work on time (per the contract), while not impeding other contractors. This would include assessing (on previous work) how easy it is to work with the contractor.

Shonnessy Gilmore, Senior Industrial Hygienist and Construction Safety Professional, EHS International, Inc. believes that, “the number one rule that needs to be taught to each new employee is you NEVER do anything outside of scope without a signed change order.”

Gilmore believes that the main cause of screw-ups is manufactured urgency. “Rushing jobs or proposals can lead to missing significant elements to the project, or overworked workers on site that may be bouncing between multiple sites. This to me is the number one cause of changes to a project, stemming from a desire to meet client deadlines,” said Gilmore.

Scott Jennings, SJ Construction Consulting, LLC, Consultant to the Construction Industry, believes there are issues concerning Change Order Entitlement.

“Whether subcontractors know it or not, their biggest worry should be entitlement on changes. Just because the work is performed, if it is not properly documented, it may be deemed as “never having happened,” he said.

David McKay, Managing Director at HMK Company works directly with owners and shared his perspective.

“Nobody likes change orders,” he said. “But they are inevitable for several reasons.” McKay said that errors of omission occur because drawings are complex. There are often ambiguities in each set of documents. 

Another cause for error are unforeseen conditions like when a building is being modernized and walls are opened, asbestos may appear.

Also, owners may decide mid-project to change the scope of the project because they see something they’d like to add.

“As an owner’s representative, we try to be fair and pay contractors the money they’re due,” he said. “But owners also have a contingency, knowing that changes orders are likely. I’ve never had a project without a change order.”

The lesson? 

Document, document, document! Plan ahead. Be accurate. Take your time. Communicate. Sounds easy. Yeah, right.

About the Author:

Jack Rubinger is a freelance writer, with more than 10 years of workplace safety and construction industry research and writing experience. Looking for an article on a specific construction topic? Contact: jackrubinger814@gmail.com