Field notes
How to Track Electrical Change Orders Without Losing Money
Change orders are where the margin on an electrical job actually lives or dies. The foreman finds an unmarked junction box behind drywall, the customer agrees verbally, the work happens, and three weeks later the invoice goes out without the change order on it. That is not a small leak. On a multi-week commercial project, a single missed change order can wipe out the gross margin on the entire job.
Here is the field-tested workflow for tracking electrical change orders without the leak.
Why electrical change orders are hard to track
Electrical change orders are different from a generic field-service add-on for three reasons. First, they often originate in the field, not the office. The foreman is the one who sees the unmarked panel, the damaged conductor, or the scope the GC forgot to call out on the prints. Second, they need to be priced on the spot or near-spot, which means the foreman has to know the labor rate, the materials markup, and the permit implications. Third, the customer approval often happens verbally on site, which is fine until the invoice goes out and the customer says "what was that line item."
The leak happens when those three steps live in three different places. A text from the foreman to the office. A handwritten note in the truck. A verbal agreement that never makes it into writing.
The five-step electrical change order workflow
Step 1: Foreman flags the change order in the field
The moment the foreman sees scope outside the original quote, they flag it in the job record from their phone. Photo of the condition. One-line description. Estimated labor hours. Materials list if known.
Step 2: Office prices the change order
The office (or the foreman, depending on shop size) prices the change order against the same labor and markup rules the original quote used. Consistency matters here. A change order priced differently from the original quote raises customer questions you do not want to answer.
Step 3: Customer approves in writing
Verbal does not count. A texted "yes" does not count either, although it is closer. What you need is a time-stamped, e-signed approval that survives a billing dispute. Most modern field-service tools handle this with a one-tap signature on the customer's phone.
Step 4: Work happens, materials and hours are logged against the change order
The change order is its own line item, not a vague addition to the original scope. Hours and materials tracked against the change order are visible to the office in real time.
Step 5: Invoice fires with the change order included
The invoice that goes out at job completion includes every approved change order as a separate line item, with the approval timestamp visible. The customer sees exactly what they agreed to and when.
The reconciliation step most shops skip
Every week, run the report that compares approved change orders to billed change orders. If the numbers do not match, you have a leak. The most common cause is a change order that was approved verbally, executed in the field, and never made it to the invoice. Catching that within a week of the job lets you still bill it. Catching it at month-end usually means writing it off.
What this looks like in FieldCommand
FieldCommand handles the five-step workflow as a first-class feature, not a workaround. Foremen flag change orders from the mobile app with photos and notes. The office prices and sends. Customers e-sign on their phone. Time and materials log against the change order, not the parent job. The invoice fires at completion with every approved change order as a line item.
The owner dashboard surfaces the reconciliation report automatically. If a change order was approved but not invoiced, you see it before the week is out.