Change orders
Available on the Business and Team plans.
Scope creep is where small jobs quietly lose money. The work gets done, the invoice goes out for the original figure, and the extra half-day disappears. The Change Orders tab on a project gives every "while you're at it, could you also…" a paper trail with a price on it.
What belongs in a change order
A change order is a short, specific record of work that was not in the original scope. The three things that make one useful later are the same three whether you are a contractor, a photographer or a consultant:
- What changed, in the client's words as much as your own — "add second bathroom vanity", not "extra work".
- Why it changed, when the reason is not obvious. "Existing valve failed inspection" is the sentence that ends the argument three months later.
- What it costs, as a single agreed number.
Vague change orders are worse than none, because they invite a negotiation at exactly the moment you want a decision.
Recording one
On the project, open Change Orders and click Add Change Order:
- Title — the one-line summary, e.g. "Add second bathroom vanity"
- Description — the scope detail, including the reason if it matters
- Amount — the price of the change
New change orders start as Pending.
The approval workflow
Every pending change order carries Approve and Reject buttons:
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Pending | Proposed, awaiting a decision |
| Approved | Agreed — its amount now counts toward the project |
| Rejected | Declined — kept on the record rather than deleted |
Approvals and rejections are written to the project feed with who did it and when. Rejected change orders are deliberately kept: "we quoted that and they said no" is worth as much later as "we quoted that and they agreed".
This approval is your internal record, not a client signature. You mark the status once the client has agreed by whatever means you actually agreed — a reply, a phone call, a conversation on site. If you need a countersigned document, send the change as a proposal instead, which captures the client's typed name, IP address and timestamp when they accept.
Where the money shows up
The total of approved change orders appears on the project header next to the Budget, so "contract was $40,000, plus $3,500 in approved changes" is visible at a glance. Pending and rejected amounts are excluded — only agreed work moves the number. See project financials for how that feeds profit and margin.
Billing an approved change
Approving a change order does not raise an invoice. To bill it, add it as a line item on a project invoice, or on a new invoice linked to the project — the change order is your documented authority to charge it, and the description you wrote is usually the line item you want.
For a run of small changes, it is often easier to let them accumulate and bill them together at the end rather than raising an invoice each time.
Why bother for small changes
Because small changes are exactly the ones that get forgotten. A $250 change captured in ten seconds is $250 you can invoice with confidence. Ten of them forgotten is $2,500 of work you did for free — and you will not remember which ten. Record everything as it happens; decide later.