What To Do With All These Change Orders

It’s hard to describe how owners feel about change orders.  Sometimes I think they would rather be forced to eat a bucket full of glass or perhaps permantly lose feeling in all extremities before accepting a change order that increases their project cost by .01%.  Why is this?  Change orders are a part of the construction process, and any semi-experienced building owner should expect a reasonable amount of change orders and budget for them.  After all, you can’t expect an architect to cover every little detail and you certainly can’t expect a contractor to start anticipating what may or may not be required for the project in their bid.  However, they do. 

The problem is that owners don’t budget for potential cost overruns and they expect their illustrious owner’s representatives to bring their project in at the exact amount bid.  Of course, this is impossible.  So what do owner reps do? 

They manipulate the contractor – like the filthy little scoundrels that they are.  They manipulate the contractor into delivering the project and leaving as many unresolved change orders as possible.  They may say things like, “We just gotta get this thing done”, or “You’ve got my word that we’ll work this thing out.”  Then when you give them the project and they no longer have a need for you they attempt to settle for pennies on the dollar.  At times, this business is cruel and ugly.

So suppose you are a contractor and you’re nearly at the end of the project and an owner is giving you the run-around on change orders.  What should you do?  Well, in the current construction market where the survival of your company depends on payment of change orders, unfortunately, you have to get dirty, nasty, and downright unprofessional.  You have to hold their project hostage like a bank robber would with an expecting mother.  I know it sucks, but this is the world we live in at the moment. 

But what about credibility, and the warm and fuzzies you want to leave with your client?  In about five years when the economy turns around, maybe we’ll be singing Kumbaya again, but for now, F it.  At the moment, it’s the quality of the project you provide and the survival of the company that matters most.