"Yeah, go ahead and add that" is how a lot of scope changes start on a job site — and it's also where a lot of construction payment disputes start. A verbal okay doesn't specify what changed, what it costs, or what it does to the timeline, which means it doesn't protect either side when memories of the conversation diverge later.
What a change order actually needs to say
- The specific change. Not "upgrade the flooring" — which flooring, which rooms, replacing what.
- Cost impact. The dollar amount the change adds to (or removes from) the original contract price.
- Schedule impact. Whether it pushes the completion date, and by how much.
- Approval. A place for the client to actually sign off before the changed work proceeds — this is the piece a verbal agreement is missing entirely.
Get it signed before the work happens, not after
A change order written up after the work is already done is a request for the client to agree to a bill, not a change order — and clients are far more likely to push back at that point than they would have been asked upfront. Getting it in writing and approved before proceeding is what actually prevents the dispute, not the document itself.
Use the template instead of building this from scratch
The Construction Change Order Template generates a formal draft from a plain description of what's changing — covering the requested change, cost impact, schedule impact, and client approval — in FLYNT Docs. Add the job's real numbers, get it signed, and keep it alongside the Job Cost Tracker so the approved change actually shows up in what you're tracking against budget.