What does this change do to my contract?
A change order form that adds up the lines and moves the date. Free, no sign-up, nothing leaves your browser.
Example numbers. Type yours over them.
Your revised contract amount shows here
Type the original contract amount and the lines that change, or fill in a worked example to see how the sheet reads.
Revised contract amount
This change order
Ready to print
Almost there
Original
Earlier changes
Before this change
This change
Revised
Contract amount
Original
Earlier changes
Before this change
This change
Revised
Opens your browser's print window. Choose Save as PDF there to keep a file.
Before you print:
We don't save a draft. Keep your printout or PDF; Copy as text puts the summary on your clipboard.
CHANGE ORDER
Customer: ____________________
Job address: ____________________
This change order amends the original estimate or contract.
What is changing
Priced lines
Contract amount
| Original contract amount | ____________ |
| Changes already approved | ____________ |
| Contract before this change | ____________ |
| This change order | ____________ |
| Revised contract amount | ____________ |
Completion date
Terms
This change order amends the estimate or contract named above. Everything not listed here stays as agreed. The changed work starts after both signatures below.
Customer
Signature
Printed name
Date
Contractor
Signature
Printed name
Date
How the change order template works
Start with the contract you're amending. Then say what's changing in your own words and list the lines. An added line charges. A removed line credits: you type its price as a plain positive number and the page takes it off. A changed line shows the old amount, the new one and the difference, which is the comparison your customer is already making in her head.
The page works in whole cents. Each line gets rounded on its own and only then added up, so anyone with a phone calculator can redo every figure on the sheet and land on the same number.
Under the lines sits the contract ladder: the original amount, the changes already approved, the contract before this change, this change, and the revised amount. When work comes out, the sheet says in plain words that the contract goes down, at the same size it would use for an increase. Nobody has to squint to find the credit.
Sales tax stays off unless you switch it on. If you do, type your rate and tick the lines it covers. We don't suggest a rate, because we don't know your state's rule, and we'd rather leave a blank than guess on a document someone signs.
The date comes last. Pick No change, Add days or a new completion date, and if you give the page the old date it does the calendar arithmetic for you, weekends included. Everything on the sheet comes from what you typed. Nothing on it is generated, and nothing you type is sent to a server.
Who this is for
Remodelers, general contractors and trade contractors who work in people's homes and get asked for changes halfway through the job: the tub that stays, the niche nobody mentioned at the estimate, the top that's suddenly quartz. Also the homeowner on the other side of the sheet, who gets to check every number on it before signing.
Contractor questions about change order forms
What should a change order include?
A plain description of what's changing, every priced line with credits shown as clearly as charges, and what the change does to the contract total and to the completion date. Add how it gets paid and both signatures, and you have the sheet this page prints. Your state or your own contract may ask for more, such as set notice wording, so there's a box for that above the signatures.
Who signs a change order, and who signs first?
You both do, and both signatures go on the sheet before anyone starts the changed work. Who goes first is up to you. Sign first and the customer gets a finished offer to accept, or let them sign first and you countersign the same day. Either way you each keep a copy of the same page, which is the reason for putting it on paper at all.
What is a deductive change order?
It's one that takes work out and lowers the price, like keeping the old tub instead of setting a new one. On this page you mark those lines Removed and type the price as a positive number. The sheet does the subtracting and says in words that the contract goes down. Credits print at the same size as charges, since that's the line the customer checks first.
Is a change order a contract amendment?
It's written to work as one: the sheet names the estimate or contract it amends and says everything not listed stays as agreed. Whether a signed change order actually binds, and what it has to contain to bind, comes down to your state's law and your original contract. We don't answer that here. On a job big enough to worry about it, an hour with a local construction lawyer costs less than the argument.
What's the difference between a change order and a change request?
A change request asks for something. A change order records what both sides agreed to: the work, the price, the date and two signatures. "Can we keep the old tub?" is a request. The signed sheet that credits the tub and prices the niche is the order.
How much markup should I put on a change order?
We don't suggest a figure. Whatever you type on a line is the price that prints, so build your markup into the unit price first. To see what a given markup leaves you once costs come out, our markup and margin calculator does the arithmetic. Your customer sees one price per line either way, and that keeps the sheet easy to check.
Can I get this as a Word, Excel or PDF file?
PDF, yes: press Print the change order and pick Save as PDF in your browser's print window. There's no Word or Excel download, and that's on purpose. Here the lines, running total and date are worked out as you type. Copy as text gives you the short version for a text message.
Does a change order have to change the completion date?
It doesn't, but it has to say what happens to it. Press Print the change order before you've picked No change, Add days or a new completion date, and the page asks for that choice instead of opening the print window. "No change" is a perfectly good answer when it's true. What matters is that you said it, so a two-day slip isn't read later as you running late. Days are calendar days, weekends included.
How do I keep track of several change orders on one job?
Let each sheet carry the running total. Type the net of the change orders already signed into Changes already approved, and the sheet shows the contract before this change and after it. We don't store anything, so keep the signed copies together, and a folder in the truck will do. The newest one always tells you where the contract stands.
Change order form example, line by line
Say you're ten days into a hall bathroom when the homeowner, standing in the doorway, decides to keep the old tub, wants a tiled niche in the shower wall, and switches the vanity top from laminate to quartz. The estimate she signed was $8,400.00, and an earlier change already added $350.00, so the contract stands at $8,750.00.
| Line | Change |
|---|---|
| Removed: supply and set new alcove tub, 1 each x $1,150.00 | -$1,150.00 |
| Removed: tear out and haul away existing tub, 4 hours x $65.00 | -$260.00 |
| Added: frame and tile recessed shower niche | +$385.00 |
| Changed: vanity top, was $280.00, now $640.00 | +$360.00 |
| This change order | -$665.00 |
| Revised contract amount | $8,085.00 |
The niche and the quartz cost money, but the tub she kept saves more than both put together, so the contract goes down by $665.00. People don't expect that, which is the best reason to get it on paper before anyone touches the niche. The completion date moves five calendar days, from 10/23/2026 to 10/28/2026, and both of you sign under the same figures. With the form still empty, press Fill in the bathroom example at the top to see this exact sheet built.
Sources and last checked
Every figure on the sheet comes from what you type. The unit list and the sheet's wording are ours, checked Oct 7, 2026 (data version 2026-10-07). We don't use any state's change-order rule or any sales tax rate, so the only thing here that can go out of date is your own numbers.
More free tools for contractors
Get your business listed, free
We list contractors at no charge and take no referral fee. When a homeowner finds you here, they pay you directly, and that's the end of our part in it.
Join as a Pro or claim a listing that's already there.
Or see how you rank in your trade:
Bookmark this page. It's meant for the phone in the truck, at the moment the customer changes her mind.