Loading…
0
Hot take: I quit writing change orders for tiny stuff and it backfired on a $1,850 kitchen job
Everyone on here says paper every little thing or you get burned, so I tried that on a kitchen remodel in Reno back in March. I wrote up a change order for every small add like moving an outlet 6 inches and swapping a light fixture, and the homeowner got annoyed fast. She felt like I was nickel and diming her and started second guessing the whole job, then held back the final payment for two weeks. I switched back to just rolling small stuff into the price and only papering real scope changes over $200. Anyone else find that too many change orders scares off good clients even when they are legit charges?
1 comments
Log in to join the discussion
Log In1 Comment
robinc602d ago
Your $200 cutoff is about right for kitchens in my experience. I run a simple rule with my clients upfront: anything under a couple hundred bucks gets absorbed unless it is a real change to the plan. When I do write one, I always frame it as "this is what the change does to your budget and timeline" and hand it over with a smile, not a clipboard ambush every morning. The problem with too many small write ups is it makes the homeowner feel like you are tracking every sneeze and they start watching you like a hawk. Keep the trust up front, save the paper for stuff that actually moves the number, and you will get paid faster.
7