CHANGE ORDER LETTER, READY TO EDIT.
A letter submitting a change request to a general contractor, with the clarifications and exclusions paragraph that decides what you are and aren't agreeing to.
A change priced in an email with no clarifications is a change you'll argue about at closeout. The exclusions paragraph is the part that does the work: it says what the number doesn't cover, in writing, before anybody agrees to it. It's emailed as an attachment, and everything you need to change is highlighted. This one goes UP: to the general contractor, the architect or the owner.
Read this before you send it. This is a real legal document rather than an example, and it's a starting point rather than a finished one. Notice windows, filing deadlines and the enforceability of several standard clauses vary by state, and your own contracts will have terms this doesn't know about. Have your attorney review it before you use it. SPM isn't a law firm and nothing here is legal advice.
3 THINGS, IN ORDER.
Number the change request and reference the job number and the reason. Every highlighted field is one to replace.
Keep the clarifications. Cutting and patching, landscape finishes and anything not stated are the usual arguments, and excluding them costs you nothing to say now.
Send it before performing the work. Work performed first is work you're negotiating for after the leverage has gone.
No charge. It goes to a real address rather than sitting on a link, which is the only thing asked for. Every field you need to change is highlighted in the document itself.
EVERY CONTROL TEMPLATE, ONE QR CODE.
Collecting these one email at a time works. A QR code printed in the book, with a password behind it, opening every CONTROL template as a download at runoncfos.com. The ebook is $3.99 on preorder until 5 October 2026 and $9.99 after that, and the paperback is $24.99 from 1 October.
BEFORE YOU USE IT.
