What is a change order on a client project?

What a change order is

A change order is the document that changes an existing agreement. It names the original project, describes what is being added, removed or altered, and states the effect on price and schedule. Once the right person approves it, it becomes part of what both sides agreed.

The term comes from construction and government contracting, where projects run for months and plans change. In US federal contracts, for example, a change order is issued under a changes clause, and the price adjustment that follows can be settled in a separate bilateral modification signed by both parties. Client service work is far simpler, but the principle carries over: change the agreement on paper before you change the work.

Change request vs change order

A change request is the ask. A client writes “Can we also rework the brand voice on the About page?” That message describes an outcome. It has no price and no approval yet.

A change order is the agreed answer. It turns the request into specific work with a price and timing, and it records the decision. Keeping these apart helps both sides. The client can ask freely without accidentally committing budget, and you avoid starting work that has not been agreed. If you are deciding whether a request should be charged at all, our guide on charging for extra client work covers that judgment.

A useful habit is to reply to every new request with the same calm sentence: “Thanks, I’ll check this against our agreement and send the price and timing if it is outside what we agreed.” That buys time to look at the scope without saying yes or no on the spot.

What to include in a change order

A change order should make sense to someone who reads it a year later without the email thread. Use this order as an outline.

1. Reference the original agreement and its accepted version.
2. Describe the change as an outcome, with any revision rounds.
3. List what stays the same, including existing deliverables.
4. State the added or reduced price and currency.
5. State the effect on the schedule and milestones.
6. Name the approver and record the date of the decision.

Change order vs amendment vs purchase order

These documents are related but not identical. A contract amendment changes the terms of the agreement itself, such as the payment schedule, ownership terms or the end date. A change order usually changes the work within the existing terms: what is delivered, what it costs and when it is due. Some agreements treat a change order as a type of amendment; read yours to see which applies.

A purchase order, or PO, is a buyer’s document authorizing a purchase. Some clients require a new or updated PO before they can pay for added work. If your client uses POs, ask whether an approved change order also needs a PO reference so the extra invoice is not held up in their accounts payable process.

Who initiates and who approves a change order?

Either side can start the process. Clients usually raise new requests, but a provider may need one too, for example when a supplied asset arrives late and the launch date must move. Whoever starts it, the provider usually drafts the change order because they can estimate the effort.

Approval should come from the person authorized to commit budget, which is not always the person who asked. A team member at the client may request a new page while only the account owner can approve spending. Name the approver in the original agreement so nobody has to work it out under pressure.

How much should a change order cost?

Price a change order the way you priced the original work, so the client can compare like with like. If the project used an hourly rate, estimate the added hours at the same rate. If it used a fixed fee, quote a fixed fee for the addition and state the assumptions behind it.

Include the knock-on effects, not just the new task. A new page may also need testing, another review round and an updated launch plan. A change can also reduce the price when the client removes work; record that as a change too, rather than quietly doing less.

Some providers add a minimum fee for change orders to cover the time spent estimating and rescheduling. Whatever you choose, put the approach in the original agreement so it is not a surprise.

Is a change order legally binding?

That depends on the original agreement, how the change was accepted and the law that applies, so treat this as general practice rather than legal advice. Many service agreements say changes must be in writing and accepted by both parties. A clear, signed or explicitly accepted change order that references the original agreement is easier to rely on than a casual chat reply.

The same applies to who pays. Usually the party requesting extra work pays for it, but a change caused by your own error is normally a correction you absorb, not a change order. If an amount is large or disputed, ask a lawyer who knows your jurisdiction.

A worked example

Emi Studio is building three pages for Acorn Studio under Invoice #104 for $1,250, which is 12.5 hours at $100. John Park asks for brand voice edits on the About page. Emi checks the agreed scope and confirms that copy edits were excluded.

The change order reads: “Brand voice edits to the About page, one revision round. Adds 1.5 hours at $100, a total of $150. Launch date moves by two business days. All other deliverables unchanged.” John accepts it. Invoice #104 stays exactly as issued; the $150 is billed on its own linked record. Rewriting an issued invoice to absorb the change would blur what was originally agreed and what was added later.

How Moolamochi approaches it

Moolamochi separates the client request from the priced proposal. The provider publishes a versioned proposal with scope, price and time changes against its approved baseline, and only the designated commercial approver can accept or reject it. An approved positive change against an issued invoice creates a separate supplementary draft and leaves the original unchanged. Rejection leaves approved scope and money as they were. New access is currently waitlist-only.