The contractor sends a bill for work the owner thought was included. Or the owner requests an upgrade, approves it in a text, and later disputes the price. Both versions of a construction change order fight start with the same question: what did the original agreement require, and what did the parties later approve?
Compare the new charge with the original scope
Read the signed contract, plans, specifications, allowance schedule, exclusions, and payment terms together. An allowance may cover a budgeted amount for a selection, with a price adjustment when the actual product is chosen. Unexpected site conditions may call for a different process. A requested design upgrade may plainly change the scope. Labeling everything ‘extra work’ skips the real analysis.
Look at how changes had to be approved
Many construction agreements require a written change order signed before additional work begins. Others specify who can authorize a change, how a price is calculated, and whether the completion date moves. Emails, texts, revised drawings, invoices, and conduct may matter when the parties disagree about what happened, but no one should assume a quick text automatically satisfies or overrides the contract’s approval procedure. The contract and the full record need review.
A useful change order identifies the exact work added or removed, the price or pricing method, credits for deleted work, the effect on the schedule, and the signatures of the people authorized to approve it. When the parties discover a disagreement while work is underway, putting those items in one document can stop a small pricing problem from affecting the entire project.
What to do if the work is already complete
- Build a timeline from the proposal through the disputed instruction, work, billing, and objection.
- Request an itemized explanation of labor, materials, subcontractor charges, allowances, and credits.
- Preserve photos, plans, messages, payment records, and the version of the contract each party signed.
- Check the notice, cure, mediation, arbitration, and payment provisions before suspending work or withholding an otherwise undisputed amount.
The legal issue may be an unpaid contract balance, disputed modification, or a claim that work was defective. These are not interchangeable. For a claim seeking relief arising from a residential construction defect, the Texas Residential Construction Liability Act may require a specific notice and opportunity to inspect before suit. A disagreement solely about the price of an authorized change does not become a defect claim just because it involves a house.
Resolve the amount and the remaining work together
If the project will continue, a settlement should say exactly what amount is due, which items remain open, whether deadlines move, and what rights the parties release. A vague promise to ‘work it out at the end’ often leaves the same disagreement for the final draw.
Fields Law reviews construction contracts and change order disputes for property owners and contractors in Austin and Central Texas.
