Change Order Generator
Most contractors write the money on a change order and leave the days blank. That is how you add three weeks of scope to a job while keeping the original completion date, and any liquidated damages that run from it.
This change order generator prints a numbered change order with your letterhead, the original contract sum, added and removed items priced line by line, credits as negatives, the schedule days added, and signature lines for both parties. It is the change order form for contractors that the job actually needs: a free change order template that fills itself in and keeps the scope of work, the money and the time on one page. It keeps a running log on your device so change order three shows what one and two already did to the contract sum.
One of these columns usually stays empty
Writing "0 days" is a decision. Leaving the field blank is a gift to whoever wants to argue you finished late.
Price the change, state the days, get it signed
Enter the contract sum as it stands before this change, including any prior change orders, then add the work line by line. Put a minus in front of a unit price to book a credit for work the owner is removing. Set the schedule days added, even when the honest answer is zero. The document preview updates as you type and prints on its own.
Deliberately absent: no suggested change order markup percentage, no standard processing fee and no state-specific contract language. Those are yours to set in the original agreement, before a change ever comes up.
Four things that decide whether you get paid for extra work
Get it signed before, not after
Your leverage is highest while the work is still an idea and close to zero once it is in place. A one-page signed change order before the crew starts costs you ten minutes. Recovering the same money afterward means proving a verbal agreement to someone who now remembers the conversation differently, and it usually costs more in time than the change was worth. Getting the signature first also keeps the crew working while the office settles who authorised what.
The days field is not optional
Every change order should state the increase or decrease in contract time in days plus the resulting date of substantial completion, which is exactly what the standard AIA form records. Leave it blank and you have accepted more scope against the original deadline. State the days even when the answer is zero, because a written zero is an agreement and a blank is an opening. When the days are not zero, reissue the dates from the construction schedule generator so the schedule matches the contract.
Change work costs more than base work
Change orders carry disruption, resequencing, small-quantity material pricing and lost production that your base estimate never absorbed, so the markup should be higher and the original contract should say so before you bid. Owner-side agreements often cap change order overhead and profit at a fixed percentage, lower again on subcontractor work, so read that article before you sign the main contract. The percentage you agreed to there is the one that applies here.
Cost-plus and GMP jobs still need them
On open-book cost-plus the dollars flow through anyway, so people skip the paperwork. Write them regardless, and write them against the number that actually moves: the guaranteed maximum price or the allowance, not the base. The change order's real job on those jobs is documenting scope and schedule impact, so you do not reach closeout with an owner who agrees the cost was real and denies approving the work. Closeout is the wrong place to discover that.
If the GC will not sign, stop and put the stoppage in writing the same day. A general contractor who keeps accepting the work but never signs is preserving the option to dispute the whole package at closeout. If they insist you proceed, ask for a written directive instead: under the standard forms a construction change directive obligates payment for directed extra work even while the price is still in dispute. Proceeding on a verbal instruction with nothing in writing is the one move with no upside.
The writing requirement can be waived by how you both behaved
Courts do enforce unwritten changes, but only on evidence of conduct, and only after you have already spent the money. Here is what the standard form records and what a court looks for when it is missing.
What the standard form actually records
AIA G701–2017 sets out the original contract sum or guaranteed maximum price, the sum prior to this change order, the new sum including it, the contract time increased, decreased or unchanged by a stated number of days, and the new date of substantial completion. It is signed by owner, contractor and architect. Executing it means both sides agreed every term of the change, money and time together.
Four things a court looks for
To find the writing requirement waived by course of performance, courts look for the same or similar conduct on multiple occasions, the other party's knowledge of it, an opportunity to object, and no actual objection. A no-oral-modification clause does not automatically defeat that claim; the ABA's construction forum notes the mere presence of a non-waiver clause does not bar a waiver argument.
Why that is still a bad plan
Waiver by conduct is a litigation argument, not a billing method. It needs a pattern of repeated unwritten changes that both sides knew about, which means you financed several of them before the pattern existed at all. Pull every text, photo, email and daily log if you are already there, but the cheaper answer was a signed one-page form before the crew arrived.
A processing fee has to exist before the change
Charging a flat administrative fee per change order is defensible only when it was a stated line in the original agreement. Introduced for the first time on the change order itself, it reads as a surprise charge and invites the dispute you were trying to document your way out of. If it is not in the contract, fold your estimating time into the change order markup instead.
This is not legal advice, and this tool does not give any. The generator formats a business document; it does not check your contract or your state's requirements. Have a construction attorney licensed in your state review your change order and contract language, particularly the change order article, the markup schedule and the time-extension clause. Whether an unwritten change is enforceable turns on your contract and your state's case law.
- AIA G701–2017 Change Order, form fields — AIA sample document and AIA summary
- American Bar Association, Forum on Construction Law, "Change Orders: Do they really need to be in writing?" — Under Construction, 2026 midwinter
Sources read at their primary source and current as of 11 September 2026. We publish no typical change order markup percentage, because no survey or standard sets one for private residential work, and no state-specific contract language beyond what is cited above.
Change orders, markup and time
Are verbal change orders enforceable?
Sometimes, and never reliably. Standard contracts require a written instrument signed by the parties, but courts will find that requirement waived where the parties repeatedly worked outside it. The ABA's construction forum sets out what that takes: similar conduct on multiple occasions, the other side's knowledge, a chance to object, and no objection. "Sometimes enforceable in litigation" is a bad business model.
Change order time extension: does it have to be stated in days?
Yes, and state it even when it is zero. AIA G701–2017 records the contract time as increased, decreased or unchanged by a stated number of days, plus the new date of substantial completion. Leave the field blank and you have added scope while keeping the original deadline and whatever liquidated damages run from it. A written zero is an agreement; a blank is an argument waiting.
What markup goes on a change order, the same as the base contract?
Higher than base, and the original contract should say so before you bid. Change work carries disruption, resequencing, small-quantity pricing and lost production the base estimate never absorbed. Many owner-side agreements cap change order overhead and profit at a fixed percentage, with a lower one on subcontractor work, so check that article first. If your contract is silent, set your own schedule of markups in the change order clause.
The general contractor will not sign my change orders. What now?
Stop work on the changed scope and put the stoppage in writing the same day. A GC who keeps taking the work and never signs is preserving the option to dispute the whole package at closeout, when your leverage is gone. If they want you to proceed anyway, ask for a written construction change directive, which obligates payment for directed work even while the price is still being argued.
Construction change directive vs change order: what is the difference?
A change order is a signed agreement on both scope and price. A construction change directive is the owner directing work to proceed before the price is settled, which keeps the job moving and obligates payment for the directed work. It is the right instrument when the change is urgent and the number is not agreed; it is not a substitute for the signed change order that should follow it.
How does a cost plus change order work?
Still write them, and write them against the number that changes: the guaranteed maximum price or the allowance, not the base. On open-book cost-plus the dollars flow through anyway, so the change order's real job is documenting scope and schedule impact. Without it you reach closeout with an owner who agrees the cost was real and denies he approved the scope.
Can I charge a fee just for producing the change order?
Only if the original contract says so. A processing fee appearing for the first time on the change order itself reads as a surprise charge and invites a dispute. The defensible version is a stated flat administrative charge per change order, disclosed at signing. Otherwise fold the estimating time into your change order markup, where it belongs anyway.
Signed change orders protect the margin you already won
They do nothing about the weeks when nobody calls. If your paperwork is tight and the schedule still has gaps, the problem sits upstream of the jobsite.
Zainfy builds the search and ad systems that keep remodeling and construction contractors booked, for contractors anywhere in the USA.
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Zayn founded Zainfy in 2023 and has spent six years in performance marketing for home remodeling and construction companies across the United States. He built this tool set because the contractors he works with were losing more money to the documents they sent than to any advertising decision.
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