The extras you did and never billed
If a change isn't signed before the work, you're doing it for nothing. Here's a simple change order process for small subs. Then here's how to get it on the next pay app.
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The foreman said okay and now no one remembers
The GC's super walks up and says you need to move that conduit, and it's going to be extra. Your foreman says okay and the crew does it. Three months later you're at closeout and no one at the GC remembers saying it.
That's how a $5M sub gives away tens of thousands of dollars a year without noticing. Each extra is small enough that no one argues about it in the moment. Added up, it's the difference between a good year and a flat one.
The rule is plain. If it isn't signed before the work, or at least signed the same day, you're doing it for nothing. Everything else in this guide follows from that.
A simple change order process for a small sub
Start with a one page form. It needs the job, the date, who asked for it, what the change is, whether it's a fixed price or time and material, and a line for the GC's signature. Keep a pad in the truck and a copy on every foreman's phone.
Tell your foremen one thing: stop and fill it out before the work starts. If the GC won't sign yet, write that on the form and send a photo of it by text or email the same day. A dated message is far better than nothing.
Price it from your own rates. Know your labor rate with burden, your equipment rates and your markup before the call comes in. Then the answer takes two minutes and not two days. The GC will remember who answered fast.
Log every change in one list, with the job, the amount, the date sent, the date approved and the date billed. Review that list every Monday. Anything sent and not approved after a week gets a phone call.
T&M tickets signed the same day
When the price isn't set, work on time and material. The foreman writes down the crew, hours, equipment and material for the day, and the GC's rep signs the ticket before leaving the site. An unsigned ticket is an argument, and a signed one is a bill.
Turn each signed ticket into a change order within a day or two while everyone still remembers it. Attach the ticket and any photos, add your markup, and send it. Then put the approved amount on the next pay app as its own line.
Most of the money lost on extras is lost at that last step. The work was done and approved, but the change order never made it onto a pay app, so it was never billed. Close that last step and you stop losing the money.
How CFOS does it
In CFOS for QuickBooks the foreman fills out the daily with crew, equipment and photos, and the T&M ticket goes on the daily. The GC signs it on site. It then becomes a change order draft, using your T&M rate sheets, wage classes and overtime rules.
The draft goes on the next pay app, with change order numbers and revisions kept so you can see what changed. Nobody has to dig for the earlier numbers. You approve the draft, and the amount is on the schedule of values when the pay app goes out.
The pay app can be sent to the GC from QuickBooks or logged for another system, and pay app due dates send reminders to the PM. So the signed ticket, the change order and the billing line all link to each other. Nothing needs retyping. That's where most of the lost money used to go.
At $2M the owner is often the foreman and can keep the list on one sheet. At $7M with three foremen on three jobs, the process has to live where the foremen work. That means their phones.
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We email you when CFOS for QuickBooks opens, plus a few updates before then. Your address stays with Run On CFOS. One click unsubscribes.
30 days free, a 90-day money-back guarantee, and cancel anytime. It opens January 2027. We email you the day it opens.
What people ask
What if the GC won't sign a change order before the work on a $3M job?
Send a dated text or email describing the change and the price, and keep a copy. Then ask for the signature the next day. It isn't as strong as a signature, but it's far better than silence.
Should the owner of a $5M sub approve every change order?
Approve the pricing, not the typing. A foreman writes it up, the PM or owner reviews the price and markup, and then it goes out. The owner shouldn't be the bottleneck.
How fast should a T&M ticket become a change order?
Within a day or two. The longer you wait, the more the GC's memory of the work fades. It gets harder to approve with every week.
Does CFOS write change orders without a signed ticket for an $8M contractor?
The draft comes from a signed T&M ticket on a daily. You review it before it goes on the pay app. You stay in control of what's billed.
Where do approved changes go in QuickBooks?
CFOS reads from and writes to QuickBooks Online, so the invoice goes there from the pay app. QuickBooks keeps the books. CFOS keeps the change order record.
- Job costing for contractors doing $1M to $10M a year
- Get paid for every extra
- Keep your profit
- G702 and G703 pay apps from your schedule of values
- One price. Every module. Priced by your revenue.
- Use all of it, or just the part you need
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