Change orders, from the homeowner's side

Almost every remodel changes somewhere along the way. You pick a different tile. You decide the niche should be bigger. The crew pulls up the floor and finds rot. None of that is a problem. A change with no price on it is.

A change order is a short written agreement: what's changing, why, what it costs, how it moves the schedule, and when you pay.

You sign it before the work changes. That one habit prevents most of the arguments that happen at the end of a job.

Why it matters to you

"Sure, go ahead" feels like a small thing in the moment. Three weeks later, the final invoice is $2,000 higher than you expected, and nobody remembers what was agreed.

The disclosure Texas contractors give homeowners before signing says to put every promise in the written agreement, because a spoken one may not be enforceable (Property Code 53.255).

The same logic applies to changes. If it isn't written, it's a memory, and two people's memories rarely match.

The Texas Attorney General also points out that most contractors won't let you change your mind for free, and that the contract should say how changes are charged (Texas Attorney General). That's fair. You want to know the price before you decide.

The kinds of changes

• You ask for more. Tile to the ceiling instead of 7 feet. A second light over the vanity. A heated floor.
• You ask for less. You drop the heated floor. That should be a credit, written the same way.
• A material swap. The tile you picked is discontinued, or you changed your mind after it was ordered.
• Something moves. The vanity moves 2 feet, and the plumbing moves with it.
• Hidden conditions. Rot under the tub. A drain without enough slope. Wiring that isn't safe to close back up.
• Code or inspector requirements that weren't in the original scope.

The first four are your choices. The last two aren't anyone's fault, and they're the ones to plan for before the job starts.

Plan for the surprise before you sign

The best time to talk about rot under the tub is before anyone has seen it. A fair contract has a line about hidden conditions that says:

• The contractor stops and shows you what they found, with photos.
• They price the fix in writing as a change order.
• The extra work starts after you approve it.
• If you don't approve it, what happens next.

Then the day they find something, it's a process, not a fight. See what a fair remodel contract looks like in Texas for the rest of the contract.

It also helps to keep some money aside. Older homes in particular can hide things. Knowing you have room in the budget makes a hidden-condition change order a decision, not a crisis.

What a fair change order says

1. A number. CO 1, CO 2, tied to your job.
2. What changes, in plain words. "Replace about 12 sq ft of rotted subfloor under the tub with new plywood."
3. Why. Your request, a hidden condition, a material swap, a code requirement.
4. The price, with labor and materials. If it's a credit, it says so.
5. The schedule effect. "Adds 1 working day," or "no change."
6. The new contract total. Old total, this change, new total.
7. When it's paid. At approval, or before the extra work starts.
8. Photos, for a hidden condition.
9. Signatures and dates, yours and the contractor's.

If one is missing, ask for it before you sign. It takes a minute. It's the same list we give contractors in our change order guide.

How a change should be priced

A change order price should make sense next to the original bid. A few things to check:

• Does it match the original pricing? If tile setting was priced per square foot in the bid, more tile should be priced the same way. That's one reason a bid with line items is worth asking for.
• Is there a credit for what's removed? If you swap one vanity for another, the old one's price should come off.
• Does it include everything it touches? Moving a vanity can mean plumbing, drywall, paint and a new mirror location. Ask what's in the price and what isn't.
• Is the schedule effect real? A change that needs a special order might add more days than the work itself.

It's fair for a contractor to charge for the time a change takes to price and manage, especially for changes you ask for.

The Attorney General notes that a service charge for changing the work is common and should be covered in the contract. Ask about it up front.

If a price seems high, ask how it was figured. A contractor who priced it carefully can tell you.

Sign it before the work changes

This is the one rule worth holding to. The order goes:

1. The contractor writes up the change with the price and schedule effect.
2. You read it, ask questions, and sign it.
3. You pay for it, if it's paid at approval.
4. Then the work changes.

Not the other way around. If the crew is standing there waiting, it's tempting to say "just do it and send me the paper." Ask for the paper first. On a phone, it can take a few minutes.

Paying for changes

Most fair contracts have you pay for a change when you approve it, or before that extra work starts. That's good for you too.

A change paid as it happens is settled. A change rolled into the final payment becomes part of a bigger, harder conversation at the end.

After a change, every invoice should show the original total, the approved changes and the new balance. If it doesn't, ask. More on structuring payments in how much to pay up front, and when.

On a Texas job, your contractor's lien waiver for a payment should match what was actually paid. See Texas lien waivers for how the forms work.

An example

In Mesa Creek, Jordan's crew pulls the tub and finds the subfloor soft along the wall. They stop and send photos.

That afternoon, Jordan's client gets CO 1: replace about 12 sq ft of subfloor, reason: hidden condition, $780, adds 1 working day, contract total goes from $14,200 to $14,980, due at approval.

She looks at the photos, asks one question, signs and pays. The crew fixes it the next morning.

At the final walk-through, nobody brings it up. It was settled the day it was found.

When you and the contractor disagree

Sometimes you won't agree that something is a change, or on the price. A few steps help:

• Go back to the contract. What did the scope include? What did the hidden-conditions line say?
• Ask for the reasoning in writing. Why is this extra? How was it priced?
• Get a second opinion on a big one. Another contractor or an inspector can tell you whether a hidden-condition fix is needed and roughly what it should cost.
• Don't let the work go ahead while it's unsettled. Agree in writing on what happens next, even if it's "we pause this part."

If it becomes a real dispute, talk to an attorney. This article isn't legal advice.

Sources

• Texas Property Code, section 53.255: statutes.capitol.texas.gov
• Office of the Texas Attorney General, "How to Avoid Home Improvement Scams": texasattorneygeneral.gov