Running the Business · Part 3
Template: the change order, one page, signed before the work
The form for lesson 3.5's three-minute habit: scope, amount, effect on payments and completion, both signatures, before the work, with the statutory change-order statement and the subcontractor disclaimer printed on it. A pad of these in the truck is the difference between the case in lesson 3.12 and getting paid. Two filled-in examples follow, one addition and one deduction.
What the full lesson covers
- Number every change order against the contract and attach it to the job folder; the contract price after each one is written on the form so the running total is never in doubt.
- Scope in a sentence a stranger could check; amount added or subtracted in dollars and cents; the progress payment it attaches to; the completion-date effect.
- Both signatures, dated, before the changed work starts. Photograph it and give the copy.
- Payment for the change is collected with the progress payment it attaches to, after the work, never as a new deposit.
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