How Should a Remodeler Handle a Change Order?

On a remodel, most changes start as a conversation in the kitchen. Turn each one into a written change order the homeowner signs before the changed work begins. California's Contractors State License Board says it directly: if the contract price or scope needs to change, it must be done with a written change order signed by the customer and contractor before the change (CSLB).

CSLB's sample home improvement contract spells out what the order must say. Extra work or a change order is not enforceable against the homeowner unless it identifies in writing, before the work starts, the scope of the work, the amount added to or subtracted from the contract, and the effect on the progress payments or the completion date (CSLB sample contract). The same sample notes that a contractor who misses these steps may still recover for the work through remedies against unjust enrichment, but that is a fight, not a payment.

Other states write it differently. Massachusetts, for example, requires every residential contracting agreement over $1,000 to be in writing with the total price and a schedule of payments, and limits the deposit to one third of the price or the cost of special-order materials, whichever is greater (M.G.L. c. 142A, §2). Read your own state's home improvement rules before you write your change order form.

Selections are where most remodel changes come from. If the contract carried an allowance for tile or fixtures, a pick that costs more than the allowance is a change order for the difference, written the same way.

Price a change the way you priced the job: your labor at burdened rates, materials with tax, and your subs' quotes, then your markup. When the homeowner swaps one thing for another, take credit for the original item you no longer buy or install, and mark up the net. How to price a change order walks through the cost lines, and markup vs margin explains why a 25% markup is a 20% margin.

Add days when the change pushes the finish: new templates, longer lead times, a re-inspection. Say so in the change order, because a change signed with no days usually settles the time question.

The job is fictional: a kitchen remodel with a $68,000 contract. After cabinets are set, the homeowners ask for quartz countertops in place of the laminate in the contract. The fabricator quotes $5,400.00 installed; the laminate the remodeler no longer needs would have cost $1,850.00 installed. The remodeler's contract allows a 25% markup on changes.

Number the change orders, keep the signed copies together, and show the running contract total on each progress invoice: original contract, approved changes, new total, paid to date. It prevents most end-of-job arguments, which are usually about a change nobody wrote down. Use the change order pricing calculator to check the arithmetic before you send one.

A remodel change order is a short, signed page: what changes, the price added or credited, the new contract total, the days, and which payment it lands in, signed before the work. Price swaps as the new work minus the old, then your markup.

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1. Learn About Home Improvement Contracts — Contractors State License Board (California). Read October 16, 2026.
2. Sample Home Improvement Contract (2025) — Contractors State License Board (California). Read October 16, 2026.
3. General Laws, Chapter 142A, Section 2: Residential contracting agreements; requirements — Massachusetts Legislature. Read October 16, 2026.