How to write a construction change order (free change order template)

Download the change order template

Download the change order template (Excel, .xlsx). No sign-up and no email. It opens in Excel and in Google Sheets: in Google Drive choose New, then File upload, then open the file with Google Sheets.

One file per job, with six tabs:

• Summary — the revised contract sum and completion date, how much unsigned change work you are carrying and what share of the contract it is, how many changes were started before they were signed, and the longest wait for a signature.
• Contract — the job, your customer, the original contract sum and completion date, and the markups your contract allows on change work.
• Change Log — one row per change: what changed, why, who asked, how it was directed, the cost build-up, the price, the days, the status and the signature. Each row is flagged when it needs something: a price, a chase, or a written confirmation.
• Change Order — a one-page change order for any row on the log, ready to print or save as a PDF and send for signature, with the contract sum and completion date before and after.
• Checklist — what every change order needs before you send it, and before work starts.
• Start Here — how to use it, and how to clear out the sample.

Blue text is what you type. Black text is a formula. Yellow cells are settings to fill in from your contract before you start. The file comes with six sample change orders on one sample job, dated relative to the day you open it, so every status shows.

What goes on a change order

A change order is the document both sides sign to change the contract: the work, the price and the time. AIA’s own change order form, the G701, is described by its publisher as documenting changes in the contract scope, including adjustments to the contract sum and time, with sections for detailing the change, determining cost impacts and any schedule changes, and it is signed by all parties once the terms are agreed. AIA Contract Documents

Its cost section is a running total, and it is worth copying the idea even if you never use the AIA form: the original contract sum, the net change from change orders already authorized, the contract sum before this change, the increase or decrease from this one, and the new contract sum. Its time section gives the days added or taken off and the new date of substantial completion. With those lines on every change order, both sides can check the running total on each page instead of rebuilding it at closeout. AIA Contract Documents

Some states set a floor for what a change order must say. In California, for home improvement work, an extra work or change order is not enforceable against the buyer unless it sets out the scope of work, the amount added to or subtracted from the contract, and the effect the order will make in the progress payments or the completion date. California Legislature

So a change order needs, at least:

• A number, the date, the job and both parties.
• The scope: what is changing, where, and the drawing, sketch, RFI or bulletin it comes from, specific enough that someone who was not there could price it.
• The reason, and who asked for it.
• The price, with the build-up behind it and the pricing method.
• The days it adds or saves, even if that is zero.
• The contract sum and completion date before and after.
• Signatures and dates from both sides.

A change order, a request and a directive are different documents

Before it is signed, what you send is a change order request, or a proposal: your price for the change. It becomes a change order when both sides sign it. When the owner needs the work done before the price or time is agreed, AIA contracts use a construction change directive, the G714, which its publisher describes as being for changes where the owner and contractor have not agreed on the contract sum or time; on receiving one, the contractor must promptly proceed with the change. AIA Contract Documents

The template keeps all three on one log, as statuses: Pricing, Submitted, Directive: price open, then Approved, Rejected or Void. Only Approved changes move the contract sum and completion date.

How to price a change order

Build the price from your cost, line by line: labor hours at your loaded rate, material, equipment, subcontractor quotes, and other costs such as permits, disposal and rentals. Then add the markups your contract allows. Many contracts set the markup on change work in the change clause, and some allow a different rate on work your subs do than on your own. The template applies overhead and profit to your own costs, a separate markup to subcontractor work, and bond and insurance to the total, at rates you set from your contract. The sample rates are placeholders, not a recommendation.

Say how the change is priced. AIA’s instructions for its change directive describe the usual choices: a lump sum when both sides can agree the total cost, a unit price when the cost per unit is agreed but the quantity cannot be known yet, or the cost of the work plus a fee. When the scope cannot be known until the work is done, time and materials with tickets signed every day is the fourth. AIA Contract Documents

Price credits the same way. Deleted work goes in as negative costs, and it is worth agreeing before the first credit whether markup comes back on work taken out, so the credit is not a second negotiation. The template has an Agreed price column for when the number you sign differs from the calculated one.

And always state the time. If the change adds days, say how many and give the new completion date. If it adds none, say zero. California’s rule for home improvement change orders requires the effect on progress payments or the completion date. California Legislature

Get it signed before the work starts

A signed change order before you mobilize is the only version of this with no argument in it. California puts this in statute for home improvement work: the buyer may not require a contractor to perform extra or change-order work without providing written authorization. The same section also says that failing its requirements does not stop a contractor recovering for work performed under remedies designed to prevent unjust enrichment, which is a lawsuit, not a payment. California Legislature

Texas gives contractors and subcontractors some leverage. A contractor or subcontractor may elect not to proceed with additional work directed by an owner if it has not received a written, fully executed change order for it, and the value of that work plus any earlier owner-directed work still without one exceeds 10 percent of its original contract amount. A contractor that elects not to proceed on that basis is not responsible for damages associated with the election. The template’s Summary shows unsigned change work as a share of your original contract, so you can see how close you are. Texas Legislature

Signing can be electronic. Under the federal E-SIGN Act, a contract cannot be denied legal effect, validity or enforceability solely because an electronic signature or electronic record was used in its formation. Check that your contract does not require a particular form, then a signed PDF or an e-signature, kept with the job, is fine. Cornell LII

When the work cannot wait

Often it cannot. When you are told to proceed before anything is signed, confirm the direction in writing the same day, to the person who gave it, and price it fast. Our guide to change orders when you can’t stop work covers the confirming letter, and when contractors have been paid without a signed change order.

Know your notice deadline, because the clock may already be running. On federal jobs, under the standard construction changes clause, an oral order from the contracting officer counts as a change only if the contractor gives written notice stating the date, circumstances and source of the order and that it regards the order as a change, and no adjustment is made for costs incurred more than 20 days before that notice. After a written change order, the contractor must assert its right to an adjustment within 30 days, and no proposal is allowed after final payment. Private contracts set their own deadlines in the change clause; put yours on every change you log. Acquisition.gov

Keep a change order log

A change order on its own tells you about one change. The log tells you where the job stands. Put every change on it the day it comes up, before you have a price, so nothing lives only in an email or a superintendent’s memory.

1. What is the contract sum now?

   What the log should answer at any moment: The original contract sum plus every approved change, credits included. The template’s Summary shows it, with the revised completion date.

2. How much work is unsigned?

   What the log should answer at any moment: Every change being priced, submitted or going ahead under a directive, added up and shown as a share of the original contract. Texas Legislature

3. What was started before it was signed?

   What the log should answer at any moment: Each one flagged, so it gets priced and signed first. The template flags rows with a start date and no signature.

4. Which verbal directions are not yet in writing?

   What the log should answer at any moment: None. The template flags any row directed verbally with no confirmation date.

5. Who is waiting on whom?

   What the log should answer at any moment: Days waiting for every unsigned change, and a flag when it passes the chase limit you set.

6. Is every approved change billed?

   What the log should answer at any moment: Each approved change order is its own line on your next pay application, billed as the work is done.

Bill approved changes on the next pay application as their own lines. Our pay application walkthrough shows where change orders go on the continuation sheet. Under an AIA change directive, amounts not in dispute may be included in applications for payment while the rest of the price is settled. AIA Contract Documents

Reading the sample

The sample is one made-up job, a $1,240,000 contract, with six change orders dated relative to the day you open the file, so the waiting times stay live.

• CO-001, floor outlets in the community room, is Approved: an owner request, priced as a lump sum, signed before the work started. It adds three days.
• CO-002, rock at the footings, is going ahead under a directive while the price is argued: an unforeseen condition, on time and materials with daily tickets. It is flagged until the price is agreed.
• CO-003, a storefront revision from an architect’s bulletin, is Submitted and has been waiting longer than the sample’s 14-day chase limit, so it is flagged to chase. The Change Order tab shows it as the sample document.
• CO-004 is a credit: the owner deleted the courtyard irrigation. The agreed credit differs from the calculated one, so the Agreed price column carries it.
• CO-005, added fire blocking after an inspection, was directed verbally by the general contractor’s superintendent and confirmed by email the same day. Work has started and it is not yet priced, so it is flagged.
• CO-006, a tile upgrade, was Rejected. It stays on the log so the history is complete.

The markups in the sample are placeholders, not a recommendation. Set your own on the Contract tab before you add your changes.

When a spreadsheet stops being enough

One log per job works while one person owns it. These are the signs it has stopped working:

• Changes are agreed on site and reach the log days later, if at all.
• The price on the log and the line on the pay application disagree, and nobody knows which is right.
• Hours and receipts for a change sit in the general job cost, so at closeout you cannot say what the change actually cost you.
• You run several jobs, and nobody can say how much unsigned change work the company is carrying.

At that point change orders belong in the same system as the budget, the schedule and the billing, so a signed change moves all three.

Where WorkHoist helps, and where it does not

A WorkHoist change order is priced the way an estimate line is: you enter the cost and the markup, and the price to the owner and your margin show as you type. A standard markup can be set once for the company and is filled in on every new change order. If none is set, or you enter 0%, the form says plainly that you are billing the change at cost with no margin, so a change only goes out at cost when someone has seen that it will.

Each change order carries a reason, a cost category and the days it adds, and moves through requested, draft, submitted, approved and rejected, so a change exists from the day it is raised rather than the day someone signs. It goes to your customer as a PDF with a signature line, showing the price to the owner; you choose whether it also shows the cost and markup behind that price. Your client can request a change order from their portal, and it arrives as a request for your team to price and approve.

Approving a change order adds its cost to the job budget and its price to the revised contract value, so the job’s margin, earned revenue and WIP move with it instead of the change looking like a loss. The price goes onto the pay application as its own line at the end, the layout the pay application walkthrough describes.

Questions contractors ask

What should a construction change order include?

A change order should include a number and date, the job and both parties, a specific description of the change with the drawings or documents it comes from, the reason, the price with its cost breakdown and pricing method, the days it adds or saves, the contract sum and completion date before and after the change, and signatures from both sides. In California, a home improvement change order is not enforceable against the buyer unless it states the scope of work, the amount added to or subtracted from the contract, and its effect on progress payments or the completion date.

Is there a free change order template?

Yes. WorkHoist’s change order template is a free Excel file, with no sign-up or email, that also opens in Google Sheets. It has a change order log that prices each change from cost plus your contract’s markups, a one-page change order to send for signature with the contract sum and completion date before and after, and a summary of the revised contract sum and unsigned change work.

Can a contractor refuse to do extra work without a signed change order?

It depends on the contract and the state. In Texas, a contractor or subcontractor may elect not to proceed with owner-directed additional work without a written, fully executed change order once the value of that unsigned work exceeds 10 percent of its original contract amount, and is not responsible for damages for that election. In California, a buyer may not require a contractor to perform extra or change-order work on a home improvement contract without written authorization. Elsewhere, read your contract’s change clause and ask a construction attorney.

What is the difference between a change order and a construction change directive?

A change order is signed by both sides once the price and time of a change are agreed. A construction change directive is used when they are not agreed but the work cannot wait: AIA’s G714 form directs the change, states a proposed method of adjustment, and the contractor must promptly proceed while the price is settled. Under AIA’s instructions, amounts not in dispute may be included in applications for payment in the meantime.

How do you price a change order?

Build it from your cost: labor hours at your loaded rate, material, equipment, subcontractor quotes, and other costs such as permits and disposal. Then add the markups your contract allows, which are often set in the change clause and may differ for your own work and your subcontractors’ work. State the pricing method: lump sum, unit price, cost plus a fee, or time and materials with signed daily tickets. Attach the backup, and price credits for deleted work the same way.

Can a change order be signed electronically?

Generally, yes. Under the federal E-SIGN Act, a contract cannot be denied legal effect, validity or enforceability solely because an electronic signature or electronic record was used in its formation. Check that your contract does not require a particular form of signature for change orders, and keep the signed copy with the job.

How long do you have to submit a change order?

As long as your contract’s change clause says, which can be short, so check it for every job. On federal construction contracts, the standard changes clause requires the contractor to assert its right to an adjustment within 30 days of a written change order, makes no adjustment for costs incurred more than 20 days before written notice of an oral change, and allows no proposal after final payment.