Change Orders

Change orders for contractors - signed on their phone, added to the invoice.

When the job changes after the customer signed, send a change order from the same job. They sign it on their phone the same way they signed the estimate, the invoice picks up the new total, and the signed estimate stays exactly as it was.

Add or remove work, see the new total Same e-signature as the estimate Paid amounts stay paid
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ESTIMATE #1042 Roof replacement $12,400.00 Stays as signed SIGNED CHANGE ORDER 1042-CO1 + Roof decking, 14 sheets $1,190.00 - Ridge vent upgrade -$240.00 Hidden condition · adds 1 working day New total $13,350.00 SIGNED INVOICE Deposit $3,720.00 PAID Balance due Paid amounts stay paid $8,680.00 $9,630.00 Includes 1042-CO1

How change orders work in FastEstimateMaker

Three steps. Your customer only does one of them.

1
Pick what changed

Open a signed or won job and tap New change order. The job's current lines are already there: take one off, lower its quantity, add a credit, or add new work. Add the reason and any working days it adds, and the new total updates as you go.

2
Send it by text or email

It is numbered with the estimate when you send it - 1042-CO1, then 1042-CO2 - so every change on the job has its own number. Your customer opens it on their phone and reviews the change.

3
They sign, the invoice follows

They sign with the same signature step as the estimate, and both of you get the signed PDF with its signature certificate. The invoice picks up the change. If they decline, you get an email with their reason and the job stays as it was.

The money follows the signature

A change order does nothing to your invoice until the customer signs it. Once they do, the job's invoice and payment schedule catch up on their own:

  • Not invoiced yet? The signed change is on the invoice when you make it, so the invoice bills the whole job with every change in it.
  • Invoice still open? It picks up the new total on its own. You choose whether added work goes on the final payment or the next payment, and anything already paid stays paid.
  • Taking work off? Remove a line, lower its quantity, or add a credit. Removed work comes off the remaining balance, starting with the final payment. A credit cannot take the job below what you have already collected.

One change order can be waiting for a signature on a job at a time. Once it is signed, declined, or withdrawn, you can send the next one.

The signed estimate never changes

Once your customer signs an estimate, it cannot be edited in place. A change goes on a change order, or you duplicate the estimate and start a new one. A signed estimate only moves forward: won, lost, or paid. Whether you call it an estimate, a quote, or a bid, the signed version stays exactly as signed.

Each change order is its own signed document, numbered with the estimate it changes. The job's history shows every one as it happens - created, sent, viewed, signed, declined, withdrawn, and applied - with the amount. On your phone, the job's Records tab keeps every signed change order PDF. If a customer asks months later what they agreed to, the answer is a list, not a memory.

A change order covers what changed after the customer signed. For what was already wrong before you started, use a pre-job walkaround: before photos the homeowner signs off on.

Your customer can ask for a change

In their customer portal, each job shows its total and how many change orders it includes, with each signed PDF. Customers can review and sign a waiting change order right there. If you turn on portal requests, they also get a Request a change button on won jobs and on jobs paid in the last 60 days.

Change order vs change request

A change request is your customer asking for something different. From the portal, it arrives as a message to you, and nothing on the job moves. A change order is your answer: priced, numbered, and signed. You can start one straight from the request, with their words already on it. You price it, they sign it, and only then do the job total and the invoice change.

Change orders with QuickBooks Online and Wave

QuickBooks Online has no change order document of its own, so contractors usually edit the estimate itself. In FastEstimateMaker the estimate stays as signed and the change gets its own signature. When the customer signs, the change order updates the invoice, and the updated invoice syncs to QuickBooks Online or Wave with the change order lines. See how accounting sync works.

Prefer paper?

The free change order template comes as a PDF and a Word file, with a filled-in sample and a change order log. It is a complete form. It just cannot update your invoice.

Change order questions

Not the signed estimate itself - it cannot be edited in place. You send a change order instead: a separate, numbered document that adds or removes work and shows the new total. Once your customer signs it, the job and the invoice use the new total.

The same way they signed the estimate. They open the link you text or email, or find it in their customer portal, review the change, and sign on their phone. Both of you get the signed PDF with its signature certificate.

It stays paid. If the invoice is still open, it picks up the new total on its own, and you choose whether added work goes on the final payment or the next payment. Removed work comes off the remaining balance, starting with the final payment.

Yes. Take a line off, lower its quantity, or add a credit, and the job total goes down. A credit cannot take the job below what you have already collected.

Nothing on the job changes. You get an email with their reason, and you can revise the change order and send it again.

As many as the job needs, numbered with the estimate: 1042-CO1, 1042-CO2, and so on. One can be waiting for a signature at a time.

Any job your customer signed or you marked won, as long as it is not paid in full. For extra work on a job that is already paid in full, send a new estimate.

Solo and Canvass, and you can send them on the free trial the same way you send estimates. On Canvass team accounts, reps write change orders on their own jobs. On Off-Season you cannot send new change orders, and the signed ones stay downloadable.

Yes. When a change order is signed, the updated invoice syncs to QuickBooks Online or Wave with the change order lines.

Stop doing extra work on a handshake

Send the change, get the signature, and let the invoice catch up on its own. Included from $29.99/month.

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