Problem guide
Change orders wait days for sign-off
Change orders wait days for sign-off because the details start in the field, get rewritten in the office, and then sit with a customer or project manager who has no reminder and no deadline. The fix is capturing the change once where it happens, getting it to the right signer the same day, and tracking every unsigned change until it closes.
What it usually looks like
On a Tuesday walk-through, the general contractor's superintendent asks the foreman to move a run of conduit to clear a new duct. The foreman agrees, takes a photo, and gets the crew started. The project manager hears about it Thursday, writes the change order Friday from the foreman's description, and emails it to the superintendent, who is buried in his own paperwork. It sits there. Three weeks later the monthly pay application goes out without it, and the change becomes a negotiation instead of a line item.
Signs you have this problem
- Crews do the extra work before the change order is signed
- Project managers write up change orders from memory days after the conversation
- Signed change orders arrive after the invoice has already gone out
- Customers dispute extra charges because they never saw the paperwork
- Nobody can list every open, unsigned change order on a job
What usually causes it
- The change is agreed verbally in the field, and someone has to write it up later from notesThe field-to-office split
- The field notes are retyped into a change order form before anyone can sign itThe re-entry trap
- The change order waits with a customer or internal approver who gets no reminderApproval drag
- Unsigned change orders are scattered across email threads, so nobody sees which are stuckThe invisible queue
What to try this week
- Measure the lag on recent change ordersPull your last several change orders and note when the change was discussed, when the paperwork went out, and when it came back signed. The largest gap tells you where to start.
- Keep a single open change order list per jobList every change that has been discussed but not signed, with the date and the person who owes the signature. Review it in every job meeting.
- Capture the change on siteAsk the lead or project manager to record the change the moment it is agreed, with photos and a short description, instead of waiting to write it up at the office.
- Set a same-day send habitAgree that any change order discussed today goes to the signer today, even if pricing is still rough. A signed scope with pricing to follow beats an unsigned one that is perfect.
- Decide what happens when work runs ahead of paperWrite down whether crews may start changed work before sign-off, and who can authorize it. Make the rule the same on every job.
Put a number on it
- Approval wait calculator: Calculate the paid crew hours and dollars lost each year while crews wait for purchase, change order and schedule approvals.
Where do-it-yourself stops
These steps shorten the wait and show you where change orders stall. They do not carry the change from the field to the signer without retyping, chase the signature on a clock, or tie the signed change to the job cost and the invoice. That takes a tool built around your own change order form, your project workflow and your billing system. That is what a Workflow Spec designs.
Questions people ask
Why do change orders take so long to get signed?
Most of the delay happens before the signer ever sees it. The change is agreed in the field, written up later, and then waits with no reminder.
Should crews stop work until a change order is signed?
That depends on the job and the relationship. What matters is having one written rule about who can authorize work ahead of paper, used the same way on every job.
What is the cost of unsigned change orders?
Extra work that is hard to bill, disputes at invoice time, and job costs that look worse than they are. Count your own unsigned changes before putting a number on it.
Can change orders be signed electronically?
Often, yes, but that only fixes the last step. If the change still has to be written up from memory in the office, most of the wait remains.
Who should own the open change order list?
One named person per job, usually the project manager. Shared ownership tends to mean nobody chases the signature.
Next step
Want this fixed for good?
This guide is how to find it and work around it. If it keeps coming back, the fix is usually a tool built around how your crew already works. Start with a free twenty-minute fit call.
Fox & Santiago, Genesee, Idaho. Home territory: the Inland Northwest, where we respond fastest. We fly anywhere in the United States for paid engagements.