"Yeah, we can do that" on a site walk is how extra work goes unpaid. Before the crew touches added scope, get a one-page field change order. It needs the scope, the price or pricing method, the schedule effect and a signature from someone your contract says can approve changes. Then bill it as its own pay app line.
General info, not legal or financial advice. Your contract's change section controls.
Why do verbal extras end up unbilled?
Nobody writes them down while the crew is moving. Contractors on X describe the same leak. An owner asks for one more outlet, nobody writes it down, and the electrician eats the cost. Others say they now build nothing outside the contract until the owner signs a price.
The money problem shows up at pay app time. The GC can only bill the owner for changes the owner approved. If your extra has no signature behind it, your line has nothing to roll up into. Small adds then stack up across a job until they are a real share of your margin.
Who can actually approve a change on your job?
Read the contract before the first walk, not during it. Look for the named representatives and the changes clause. On many jobs the superintendent can direct work but cannot approve price.
Federal jobs spell this out. FAR 43.102 says only contracting officers acting within their authority can execute contract changes for the government: https://www.acquisition.gov/far/43.102 . The standard changes clause, FAR 52.243-4, adds two clocks: https://www.acquisition.gov/far/52.243-4
- If an order that changes the work does not come as a written change order, the contractor must give written notice. It states the date, circumstances and source of the order, and that the contractor treats it as a change.
- Costs incurred more than 20 days before that written notice generally do not count toward the adjustment.
- The contractor must submit a written statement of the adjustment's general nature and amount within 30 days, unless the government extends it.
Subcontracts often borrow these clocks, sometimes with shorter dates. Check yours.
What goes on a one-page field change order?
Keep a pad of these in the truck, or a form on the phone. Each one should include:
- Job name, change number, date and time
- Who asked for the work, by name and role
- The scope in plain words, with location, plus a before photo
- A lump sum price, or the pricing method with rates and a not-to-exceed amount
- Added days, or "no schedule effect"
- Signature and printed name of the person with approval authority
Federal policy points the same way. FAR 43.102 says contract changes shall be priced before execution when that can be done without hurting the government's interest.
Worked example
All names and numbers are made up.
Corner Electric's foreman is asked on the walk for 6 extra outlets and a dedicated 20-amp circuit. He writes it up on the spot at $1,840 lump sum and 1 added day, and the owner's representative signs. Corner bills it as change order 4 on the next pay app, and it gets paid with the draw.
On the last job, the same request was a handshake. The crew spent 9 hours, about $1,050 in labor plus $420 in material. That $1,470 cost was never billed, because the GC had nothing to send upstream. Twelve extras like that in a year is $22,080 of work at the written price that never reached an invoice.
What if the work cannot wait for a signature?
Sometimes the slab is poured tomorrow. Send a same-day email or text to the approver with the scope, a price or not-to-exceed, and a photo. Ask for a written reply that says approved. Follow up with the signed form within 24 hours and log both on your change order sheet.
If no written approval comes, decide before the crew starts whether you will do the work at risk. Make it a deliberate call, not a reflex on the walk.
Rejected pay apps often trace back to changes billed before approval, so fix the paperwork before the next cutoff. If extras are piling up while the draw lags, see the contractor guide at https://mcafax.com/notebook/construction-business-loans and compare funding paths at https://mcafax.com/notebook/where-to-get-business-funding .
