Construction education
What is a construction change order?
A change order is a formal amendment to the original construction contract. It documents the scope change, adjusts the contract price, and often extends the schedule. Without a signed change order, extra work often goes unpaid.
What triggers a change order
- Additional work — Owner requests something that wasn't in the original contract — more curb, a wider sidewalk, an extra retaining wall, a late-added feature.
- Deleted scope — The owner eliminates work to save money or because field conditions changed. Deductive change orders reduce the contract amount and need the same documentation discipline.
- Revised quantities — Actual grading quantities differ from the estimate. Actual pipe footage doesn't match the plan. In unit-price contracts, this adjusts the final payment without technically changing the unit price.
- Unforeseen conditions — Rock where the plans showed soil. Utilities that weren't on the as-builts. Differing site condition clauses exist in most public contracts for exactly this reason.
Why change orders need to be tied to the map
When a change order is pinned to the location where the changed work occurs, it's immediately clear to the whole team which part of the project is affected. The PM can see where cost exposure is concentrated, the foreman can see what the scope change means for their section, and the owner has a visual record they can review without reading through a stack of paper.
Frequently asked questions
What does CCO stand for in construction?
CCO stands for Construction Change Order. It's a formal amendment to the original contract that modifies scope, cost, schedule, or materials.
Who can issue a change order?
Typically the owner or the engineer of record issues change orders, but the contractor can also propose them. All parties to the contract generally need to sign off before the change is officially approved.
Do you have to stop work until a change order is signed?
Not always. On many jobs, a directive is issued to proceed with work before the change order is fully priced and executed. The change order follows as the formal cost and schedule adjustment. That sequence — proceed first, price it out after — is where a lot of disputes originate.
Can a change order be negative?
Yes. Deleted scope reduces the contract amount. These are sometimes called deductive change orders or credit change orders, and they're just as important to document as additive ones.
What's the difference between a change order and an RFI?
An RFI is a question. A change order is the result if the answer changes the work. Many change orders start as RFIs that revealed a plan conflict, unforeseen condition, or scope gap.