Free construction change order form, and how to fill it in
A change order is the written agreement that the scope of a job has changed, and with it the price, the schedule, or both. The form below is a one-page change order you can print, fill in on site, and have the client sign before the extra work starts.
It is deliberately short. A change order that takes twenty minutes to fill in doesn't get filled in; it gets postponed until the details are fuzzy and nobody is sure enough to bill it. One page, filled in on the day, is worth more than a perfect document written a month later.
Download the change order form
Construction change order form (PDF, 1 page)
Printable, US Letter size. Free to use, no sign-up.
What goes in each part of the form
| Section | What to write | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Change order number | A running number per job: 1, 2, 3. | Lets you and the client refer to it without confusion, and shows at a glance how many changes the job has had. |
| Date and requested by | The date the change was asked for, and who asked. | Settles later arguments about whether the client asked for it or the crew decided on their own. |
| Description of the change | What is being added, removed or changed, specific enough that a stranger could price it. | "Extra outlets" is a dispute waiting to happen; "two duplex outlets on the kitchen island, north side" is not. |
| Reason | Client request, hidden condition, design change, or other. | Hidden conditions and design changes are often handled differently in the contract than client requests. |
| Cost breakdown | Labor, materials, equipment, subcontractor, overhead and profit, each as its own line. | A broken-down price is easier for a client to approve than a single number with nothing behind it. |
| Contract and schedule | Original contract, previous changes, this change, new total, and days added. | Keeps the running contract value right, so the final invoice matches what was agreed. |
| Signatures | Contractor and client, with printed names and dates. | The signature is the agreement. Without it you have a quote, not a change order. |
How to price a change order
Price a change the same way you priced the original job, not at a discount because it feels small. Small changes interrupt the schedule, need their own trip to the supplier and pull someone off planned work, which is why they often cost more per hour than the job around them.
- Labor: estimate the hours, multiply by your real hourly cost for that worker, including taxes and insurance, not just the wage.
- Materials: list them at what you will actually pay, including delivery if it needs its own delivery.
- Equipment and rentals: anything you have to hire or keep on site longer because of the change.
- Subcontractors: get their price in writing before you put it on your change order.
- Overhead and profit: add your normal markup. A change order is new work, and it carries the same overhead as the rest of the job.
- Schedule: count the days the change adds and write them down, even if it is zero.
Check your markup against the margin you actually want to keep. A 20% markup only leaves a 16.7% margin, which is a common reason change orders end up less profitable than the contractor expected.
When to get the change order signed
Before the work starts, and before you buy materials for it. The whole value of a change order is the moment of agreement: the client saying yes to a price while the choice is still theirs. Once the wall is opened or the fixture is installed, the conversation changes from "do you want this" to "you owe me for this", and that is a much harder conversation.
If the client isn't on site, send a photo of the filled-in form by text or email and ask for a written yes. A reply confirming the price is far better than nothing for a small change; bring the paper form for a signature at the next visit.
Common change order mistakes
- Doing the work first and writing it up later, when nobody remembers the details well enough to bill it.
- Writing a vague description that the client can read as included in the original price.
- Pricing labor at the wage instead of the real hourly cost.
- Leaving out the schedule impact, then being blamed for finishing late.
- Keeping signed change orders in a folder that never gets checked against the final invoice.
- Forgetting to put the change's cost on the job, so the job looks like it lost money when it didn't.
Paper form, or capture it on the phone
The paper form works, and many contractors keep a pad of them in the truck. The weak point is what happens after: the signed form has to reach the office, the extra cost has to land on the right job, and the new contract total has to reach the final invoice. Each hand-off is a place where a change order gets lost.
SiteLedger keeps the costs of a change on the same job as the rest of the work: the extra hours logged by the crew and the receipts for the extra material both land on that job as they happen, so the job cost shows the change straight away. The paper form stays useful for the signature; the cost tracking stops depending on someone remembering to carry it back.
Common questions
- What is a change order in construction?
- A written agreement between contractor and client that changes the original scope of work, usually along with the price, the schedule, or both. It is signed by both parties and becomes part of the contract.
- Is this change order form free to use?
- Yes. Download the PDF, print as many copies as you need, and use it on your jobs. No sign-up is needed. It is a starting point, not legal advice, so check it against your own contract terms.
- Does a change order need to be signed?
- It should be. Without the client's signature, or at least a written reply accepting the price, you have a quote rather than an agreement, and collecting the money depends on the client remembering the conversation the way you do.
- Can a change order reduce the contract price?
- Yes. A deductive change order removes work and lowers the price, for example when a client drops an item from the scope. The form has an add or deduct box for exactly this.
- Who fills in the change order, the contractor or the client?
- Normally the contractor writes it up, prices it and presents it, and the client reviews and signs. On larger jobs an architect or project manager may issue it instead, but someone still has to price the work and get both signatures.
Keep reading
What are change orders, and how to manage them without losing money
What a change order is, the main types, why verbal changes get built but never billed, and how to capture one on site so the cost reaches the job.
Markup vs margin: the difference that quietly costs contractors money
Markup is what you add to cost. Margin is what you keep. A 20% markup is a 16.7% margin — the arithmetic, a conversion table, and how to price backwards.
Job costing for contractors: how to know your margin before the job closes
How to tie labor, materials, subs and overhead to a job while it is still open, budget each bucket, and spot a job going bad early enough to fix it.
How to bid construction jobs without losing money
Why bids come in too low even when the math looked fine on paper, and how to use your own past job costs instead of gut feel to price the next one.