What You Should Know About Construction Change Orders


A construction change order is considered to be scope of work that has been altered from the original contract.


Change Orders can lead to substantial unforeseen costs and scheduling adjustments during the build of your custom home.

Construction Change Order

The agreed upon scope of work is determined by the plans provided to the General Contractors and Subcontractors during the estimating and bid phases. These details and numbers are finalized when the contract is signed by client and contractor prior to work beginning.

It's safe to say, almost every project experiences a change order.

According to some resources, 30-40% of larger projects can experience a change order of significant scope. The architectural and engineered plans are what all contractors use to estimate and provide proposal numbers for scopes of work.

At any moment of the project, if something changes or differs from the original plans, the owner can and should expect to receive a change order.

For example, an Electrician may send a change order to the GC and owner for something as small as adding electrical socket locations and/or more can lights throughout the house.

They also can get very expensive. Such as the grader hitting a “hard dig” during the grading and excavating scopes, or if the framers engineering came back with their scope needing to add steel beams required for the structure and construction of the house.

The owner can also have the building costs reduced by receiving a deduct change order.

Some examples can be selecting lower-cost flooring throughout the house, eliminating a window that’s not necessary, or any removal of scopes from the original agreement.

Whether the owner has built before, or if they are going through it the first time… it is important to know when and why a change orders occur during your project.

In some incidents, the owner is hit with change order costs after the work has already been completed. Or, the owner lives out of town and is not present to witness or document the incident that led to the change order.

The proper procedure is that the owner should review and sign off on all change orders prior to the builder proceeding with any change order work.


Ven Consulting’s in-construction project management and consulting services are there to ensure that the proper procedures are taken place with all change orders.

Not only onsite visits with pictures & videos for documentation, but also having the complete knowledge of plans to help verify when contractors are adding additional costs.

An experienced consultant will work hand in hand with the owner and contractor to confirm and validate the details and final costs, prior to having the owner sign off.

Request A Complimentary, No-Obligation 15 Minute Consultation


Example of a Change Order

A boulder was uncovered during the excavation phase of this custom home build requiring a Underground 'Hard Dig’ Change Order.

► [ 0:21 ] Watch this YouTube Short: Excavation Uncovers Underground Boulder | 'Hard Dig’ Change Order on a Custom Home Build

This video is an example of just one of the benefits of our Project Management package, we verify with on-site eyes and video that is captured for the owners ability to review.


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3 Reasons Why Pre-Construction Consulting Is Important Before You Build Your Custom Home In Arizona