Can I say no to a change order?

Yes. A change order is a proposal until you approve it. If it is something you requested, you can decide it is not worth it and we hold the original plan. If it is a hidden condition, some things do have to be addressed to build safely and to code, and in that case we walk you through why, what your options are, and what each one costs, so the decision is still yours.

Are change orders a sign of a bad contractor?

No. Change orders themselves are normal on any real remodel, especially on older homes. The warning sign is not that they exist, it is how they are handled. A change that shows up as a vague line on a final invoice, with no description and no prior approval, is the problem. A change that is documented, priced, and approved before the work is exactly how it should look.

How do you decide the price of a change order?

The same way we price the rest of your project, with real numbers from the same team. Because design and construction live under one roof here, a change is worked through and priced in one place, not negotiated back and forth between a separate designer and builder. You get one figure, from the people who already know your plan.

Can I request changes myself once we have started?

Of course, and many clients do. The only thing worth keeping in mind is timing. The same change almost always costs less early than it does late, once material is ordered or work is already in place. We explain exactly why in our piece on making changes during a remodel. The short version is simple. Decide as much as you can, as early as you can.

Do you use allowances or a contingency fund?

No. An allowance is a placeholder number for something that has not been chosen yet. A contingency is money set aside for problems that may or may not happen. Both let a proposal look complete when it is not, and both leave you guessing at your real number. We would rather do the work up front to specify and price the project in front of us, then handle anything the house reveals through a documented change order you approve.

What if the change is your mistake, not the house?

Then we pay for it. If we mis-measured, ordered the wrong material, or built something that does not match the approved plan, correcting it is on us and it does not become a change order. A change order is for work that was never in the plan. It is not a way to pass our errors on to you. Ask any contractor you are considering this question, and listen closely to the answer.

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What Is a Change Order in a Remodel?

Every remodel horror story sounds the same. A change order no one explained, and a final number no one saw coming.

If the phrase makes you nervous, that is fair. Here is what a change order is, why it happens, and how it should be handled so it never becomes the part of your project you dread.

By Scott Hochuli, Founder, Hochuli Design & Remodeling Team · Arizona ROC 173428 · Remodeling Phoenix homes since 2001

The short answer

A change order is a written, priced amendment to your remodeling agreement. It records a change to the scope, the cost, or the schedule, and it does not take effect until you approve it in writing. On a remodel, most change orders come from conditions hidden inside the existing home that no one can see until the work is underway. Handled well, a change order is simply documentation and your approval, never a surprise.

Who can start one: either side. You, or us when the house reveals something.
What it must include: what changed, photos of the condition, the solution, the price, the schedule impact, and your revised project total.
When it takes effect: only after you approve it in writing.
Who has final say: you.
What it amends: your remodeling agreement.

Prefer to watch

Scott explains it in 90 seconds

Same answer, in his own words. What a change order is, why the house itself causes most of them, and the two common practices we leave out because they let a number look finished when it is not.

Scott Hochuli, Founder, Hochuli Design & Remodeling Team. Runtime 1:35.

Read the transcript

If you've heard the words change order, there's a good chance it was not a good day. For a lot of people, a change order is the moment a project stopped being the price they had agreed to. Let me tell you what a change order is supposed to be.

A change order is a written priced amendment to your remodeling agreement. It covers the scope, the price, and the schedule. And it does not happen to you. It happens with you because nothing moves until you sign it.

Here in Phoenix, most of them come from the house itself. We remodel a lot of homes and all homes keep secrets. You open up a wall and find wiring that has to go, a drain line near the end of its life, or framing that was never meant to carry what we're adding. None of that shows up on a walkthrough. When we find it, you hear about it the same day in writing with photos of what we're looking at and with a price before we touch it.

Two things we do not do. We don't use allowances and we don't use contingency funds. Both of them let a number look finished when it really is not. We would rather do the work upfront to price the project in front of us, then bring you anything the house reveals as its own documented change.

And if a change is our mistake, we pay for it. If we mismeasured or built something that does not match your approved plan, fixing it is on us. That's not a change order. Ask any remodeler you're considering that question and listen closely to the answer.

A change order should not cost you your trust in your contractor. Handled right is the thing that earns it.

If you're thinking about a remodel and you want a team that will tell you the truth before it costs you anything, when you're ready, let's start the conversation.

What a change order is, and what it is not

A change order is the formal, written way a remodel accounts for anything that differs from the plan you already signed. It spells out exactly what is changing, what it costs, and how it affects the schedule, and it becomes part of your remodeling agreement only once you have approved it.

The important part is that word, approved. A change order is not something that happens to you while your back is turned. It is a decision you make, in writing, before the work goes ahead. A responsible contractor uses change orders to keep everything visible, so the price you agreed to and the price you end up paying are connected by a paper trail you can follow.

Here is what a change order is not. It is not a line item on a final invoice you have never seen before. It is not a verbal heads up in a driveway. It is not a way for a contractor to recover money on a number that was too low to begin with. And it is not a way to charge you for a mistake we made.

Every remodel of any size has the potential for a change order. What separates a good experience from a bad one is not whether they happen. It is whether they are documented openly and priced fairly before anyone picks up a tool.

When and why change orders happen

Most change orders on older Phoenix homes come from hidden conditions, the things no one can see until a wall or a floor is opened. Cast iron drain lines near the end of their life. Aluminum or knob and tube wiring that has to go. Framing that was never built to carry what a new layout is adding. Water or termite damage sitting quietly behind a finish. None of it shows up on a walk through, and none of it shows up in a photo.

The Valley has a lot of homes built decades ago, and they were built to the codes and the materials of their time. When we open one up, the house tells us things the plans could not. A change order is how we tell you the same thing, the same day we find it, in writing, with a price, before we go any further.

Less often, a change order comes from you. Partway through, you decide you want a different tile, a wider opening, a fixture you saw after the plan was set. That is completely normal, and it is welcome. The one thing worth knowing is that the same change costs less early than it does late. We cover the reasons for that in our companion piece on making changes during a remodel, so we will not repeat the whole story here.

How a good contractor documents, prices, and gets your approval

It is handled inside one team, against your fixed price remodeling agreement. When something changes, whether the house forces it or you request it, we write it up, price it in one place, and get your signature before the work moves forward. You are never negotiating a number after the fact, and you are never surprised by one.

As for size, most change orders on our projects land somewhere between $2,000 and $5,000. Structural work found behind a wall can run higher, and a simple material swap can run well under that. It is not a promise, it is what our clients see most often, and we would rather tell you the range than let you imagine one.

Because the same people designed your project and are building it, a change never has to bounce between a separate designer and a separate builder while the clock runs. It gets worked through and priced in one conversation, by the people who already know your plan.

Step 1Found condition
Step 2Documented
Step 3Priced
Step 4You approve
Step 5Work proceeds

Step 4 is a gate, not a formality. The work does not move forward until you have approved the change in writing.

What is in a change order

There is nothing proprietary about the document itself. Here is every piece of it, so you know what to look for whether you work with us or with anyone else.

What changed, in plain language. A description of the condition we found or the change you requested, specific enough that you could explain it to someone else.
Photos of what we found. When the house is the reason for the change, you see it. Not a description of a problem behind a wall, the problem behind the wall.
The solution, and why it is the right one. What we propose doing about it, and where there are options, what those options are.
The price. What this change adds, and your revised project total, so you always know where the whole project stands.
The schedule impact. How many days this adds, or that it adds none.
A signature line, dated. Yours and ours. Until yours is on it, nothing happens.

All of it lives in JobTread, the project management system we run every job through, so your change orders sit in one place alongside your plans, your selections, and your schedule. You are not hunting through email for a number someone gave you three weeks ago.

How complete plans reduce change orders

The more complete your plans and your selections are before we start, the fewer change orders you will ever see. When the design is fully drawn and your materials are chosen up front, there is very little left for the house or the calendar to surprise us with. Complete plans cannot erase what is hidden inside an older home, but they remove almost every other reason a change order happens.

This is why we put so much care into the front of a project. Our Project Development Agreement is the paid design phase, where your project gets fully drawn, specified, and priced before construction starts. That is where scope gets settled, and it is the single biggest reason our clients see fewer change orders once the work is underway. If you want to understand how ready your own plans are, start with plan readiness, and to see where this fits in the larger picture, walk through our home remodeling process.

And when a change does come up mid project, timing is everything. Our companion piece on making changes during a remodel shows how the cost of a change climbs the later it lands, which is the single best argument for deciding as much as you can, as early as you can.

A note from Scott

A few years back, a couple asked us to redo a primary bathroom that had been remodeled just two years earlier by someone else. The shower was already leaking, and when we opened the wall we found the last installer had cut away the structural studs to fit the valve. The whole wall flexed five or six inches. We stopped, showed them exactly what we were looking at, and wrote up a change order to rebuild it properly. They were grateful we caught it, and it added about a day to the schedule.

A change order should never be the moment you find out what something really costs. On an older home it is simply us telling you the truth the day the house shows us something we could not see, in writing, with a price, before anyone touches it. Nothing moves until you say go. That is not how every contractor works. It is the only way I know how to do it.

Scott Hochuli Hochuli Design & Remodeling Team, Scottsdale, AZ

Straight answers

Common questions about change orders

Will a change order raise my price?

It can, and when it does you see the new number before the work happens, not after. A change order can move the price up, leave it flat, or in some cases bring it down, depending on what changed. Most change orders on our projects land somewhere between $2,000 and $5,000, though structural work found behind a wall can run higher. What stays constant is the order of events. You see the priced change first, and it only becomes part of your remodeling agreement once you approve it.
Can I say no to a change order?

Yes. A change order is a proposal until you approve it. If it is something you requested, you can decide it is not worth it and we hold the original plan. If it is a hidden condition, some things do have to be addressed to build safely and to code, and in that case we walk you through why, what your options are, and what each one costs, so the decision is still yours.
Are change orders a sign of a bad contractor?

No. Change orders themselves are normal on any real remodel, especially on older homes. The warning sign is not that they exist, it is how they are handled. A change that shows up as a vague line on a final invoice, with no description and no prior approval, is the problem. A change that is documented, priced, and approved before the work is exactly how it should look.
How do you decide the price of a change order?

The same way we price the rest of your project, with real numbers from the same team. Because design and construction live under one roof here, a change is worked through and priced in one place, not negotiated back and forth between a separate designer and builder. You get one figure, from the people who already know your plan.
Can I request changes myself once we have started?

Of course, and many clients do. The only thing worth keeping in mind is timing. The same change almost always costs less early than it does late, once material is ordered or work is already in place. We explain exactly why in our piece on making changes during a remodel. The short version is simple. Decide as much as you can, as early as you can.
Do you use allowances or a contingency fund?

No. An allowance is a placeholder number for something that has not been chosen yet. A contingency is money set aside for problems that may or may not happen. Both let a proposal look complete when it is not, and both leave you guessing at your real number. We would rather do the work up front to specify and price the project in front of us, then handle anything the house reveals through a documented change order you approve.
What if the change is your mistake, not the house?

Then we pay for it. If we mis-measured, ordered the wrong material, or built something that does not match the approved plan, correcting it is on us and it does not become a change order. A change order is for work that was never in the plan. It is not a way to pass our errors on to you. Ask any contractor you are considering this question, and listen closely to the answer.