مهمة إنتاج

Every builder knows this story. You find a problem. The client says, go ahead. You do the work. And at the end, the client does not want to pay for the extra.

The cure is old and simple. Get the change in writing. Get it signed before the work starts. The rules for change orders are different in each state, so check yours.

Changes are normal. AIA Contract Documents looked at 18,229 completed building projects. On projects of up to 500,000 dollars, the average was 1.7 change orders. The change is not the problem. The paper is, because nobody has an evening for it.

Here is how Tallow Ridge does it on Job 2614. On Tuesday, Joe's daily log recorded rot in the subfloor. On Wednesday morning, Ravi makes the row CO-03 in the database Change orders and gives it to Estimating. The instructions: draft change order 03 from Tuesday's log. Describe the condition. State the effect on the schedule. Leave the price empty.

Hear that last line again. Leave the price empty. The agent does not price your work.

At its next check-in, Estimating writes the draft and submits it. About one and a half square metres of rotted subfloor, found after demolition, not visible before. Two more work days before the cabinets can go in. The price is empty.

Now the people. Ravi prices it: labour, material and markup. 2,860 dollars. He knows what his crew costs. The agent does not. He accepts the draft and sets the status to Priced.

Dana approves it. It is her firm and her risk. She puts her name in Approved by.

Then the client. Ravi calls the Hargroves first, so there is no surprise. Then he sends the change order himself. The client signs it. Ravi puts the signed copy in Drive and sets the status to Signed.

Only now does Joe cut out the subfloor. Not one day before.

Look at what happened to one fact. Joe saw rot. It went into the daily log. The log became the change order. The change order went into the client update. And next month it goes on the invoice, in the accounting app. One fact, written once.

That is a production job with agents. The agent did the writing. People did the three things that carry the money: the price, the approval and the signature. In the last lesson, the job closes, and you start your own Space.