Extra work needs a path from instruction to approval and billing. Find the unbilled changes, establish their contractual position and prevent the next request disappearing into site activity.
Corporate Recovery Partners
01 / 06
The crew remembers changes that accounts never saw
A shopfitting team repeatedly moves fixtures at the customer’s request. The supervisor treats each change as minor and promises to sort the paperwork later. At invoicing, the office has only the original scope. Labour has been paid, but the business cannot clearly explain which extra amounts it is entitled to claim.
List each change, when it occurred, who requested it and the supporting messages, photos or records. Separate a customer request from internal rework or a correction already required by the contract.
Do not create backdated approvals or assume every site conversation authorised extra cost. Preserve the actual evidence and identify uncertainty for the adviser.
Read the contract and have unclear entitlement or notice issues assessed. Business.gov.au recommends documenting changes and checking applicable state or territory requirements for construction variations.
Identify what was agreed about scope, price and timing. A confirmed instruction to perform work may still leave the commercial treatment disputed, so avoid converting every remembered request into an unsupported invoice.
Link each proposed charge to the work, its cost basis and the relevant supporting record. Explain the distinction between accepted items and matters requiring agreement. Give the customer something specific to review.
Keep the response and any further agreement with the job file. A general acknowledgement that staff were helpful is not necessarily acceptance of the proposed price.
Decide who may accept a request, who assesses cost and who obtains the required approval before work proceeds. Give the crew a practical way to flag a change while it is still happening.
Review unbilled changes alongside completed work each week. The control should connect site activity to accounts without encouraging premature billing or work outside agreed authority.
