Sep 20 • General discussion
Change order is a bad word!
On a cooperative contract, a change order costs you more than it makes you.
This has nothing to do with the contract language.
These vehicles are relationship based. An agency bought off somebody else's award because it was faster than running their own, and they picked you. Somebody put their name and credibility on that.
Now think about what your change order does to that person. They may have to go back and ask for more money, sometimes in front of City Council, and in public, explaining why the number they brought forward wasn't the real number.
That's not paperwork to them, that's their credibility.
That same person also decides whether to use you again next year.
Price it so you don't have to ask for more. Cover your costs to do the work right, including the part you're hoping won't happen. Bid the work, not the margin.
Some change orders are unavoidable, scope moves and unforeseen things happen. When it does, get it approved before you do the work. Every time.
Honestly, I've written change orders I'm not proud of and some I should have been more prepared for.
Pull your last public job. Did you have change orders on it? How many were scope actually moving, and how many were you catching something you should have caught?
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Change order is a bad word!
