In a perfect world, construction projects would follow the blueprints to the letter. In the real world, 75% of projects experience significant changes, and nearly 40% of those are caused by design gaps or unforeseen site conditions. For a subcontractor, a change order is more than just “extra work”—it is a legal and financial pivot point.
Without a dedicated system like Subtrade Software, change orders often follow a disastrous trajectory:
- The GC makes a verbal request on-site.
- The crew performs the work to keep the project moving.
- The office forgets to bill for it, or the GC denies the request weeks later due to “lack of documentation.”
1. The Death of the “Verbal Handshake”
The biggest risk to a sub’s bottom line is scope creep—those small, undocumented additions that eat away at your labor budget. Subtrade Software forces a professional standard by digitizing the “Field Instruction” process. When a site supervisor asks your team to move a conduit or add a valve, your foreman can instantly generate a “Pending Change Order” (PCO) in the app. This creates an immediate timestamped record, complete with photos of the site condition. By moving away from verbal agreements, you shift the burden of proof off your shoulders and onto the digital record.
2. Real-Time Impact Analysis
A change order isn’t just about the cost of a new part; it’s about the ripple effect. If an HVAC sub has to wait three days for a design clarification, they aren’t just losing those three days—they are paying for a crew to stand idle, rescheduling other jobs, and potentially paying liquidated damages.
Subtrade Software’s change order module allows you to calculate:
- Direct Costs: Materials, specialized equipment, and additional labor.
- Indirect Costs: Increased supervision, overhead, and “dilution of supervision” where your best foreman is pulled away to solve a problem.
- Schedule Impacts: Automatically flagging how this change pushes back the substantial completion date.
3. Accelerating the Approval Lifecycle
Cash flow is the lifeblood of construction. Many GCs and Owners take weeks to approve change orders because the “backup documentation” is messy or incomplete. Subtrade Software solves this by providing standardized templates that GCs trust.
When you submit a change order through Subtrade, it includes an itemized breakdown, relevant site photos, and a link to the original RFI. Because the information is presented professionally and clearly, the “friction” of approval is removed. In fact, users of dedicated change order software report a 30% faster approval cycle, getting that extra revenue into their pockets before the next payroll run.
4. Protecting Your Legal Rights
In many jurisdictions, if a change isn’t documented in writing within a specific window (often 7–14 days), the subcontractor legally waives their right to get paid for it. Subtrade Software acts as your “digital insurance policy,” ensuring that every deviation from the contract is logged, signed, and stored in an audit-ready format.
