A structured, module-based course built on the Five Non-Negotiables that separate reactionary contractors from disciplined operators.
Practical tools. Real training. Built from the field.
Six modules. Templates, contract language, pricing methodology, real cases, and pushback scripts.
No subscription. Instant delivery.
Contracts get signed with vague authorization language. Notice provisions get ignored because "we have a good relationship." Extra work happens on verbal direction. T&M tickets stack up in the office.
Then everything gets bundled into one big change order and submitted late. The GC's response is predictable. Sticker shock. Half questioned. Chunks rejected. The sub settles for whatever the GC is willing to pay and moves on.
Disputed change orders typically settle for 40 to 80 cents on the dollar. That is not a negotiation. That is what happens when one side has a system and the other has a relationship.
A strong change order system is not administrative. It is operational. It aligns the field and the office around the same expectations. It removes ambiguity from authorization. It removes inconsistency from cost recovery. It protects margin before margin is lost.
Every disciplined change order operation runs on five rules. The course is built around them.
Address change order language before signing. Notice provisions, authorization standards, markup structure, payment timing. If the structure is weak before the job starts, enforcement downstream is nearly impossible.
You cannot enforce what you cannot define. The PM, the superintendent, and the foreman all need to be aligned on the scope. What's in. What's out. Where the boundaries are.
A signed T&M authorization form. A documented approval of a proposed change order. Phone calls and texts are not authorization. The single biggest breakdown point in change order management.
PM time. Supervision. Disruption. Resequencing. Extra work runs at roughly 70% efficiency and that productivity loss is real. Price the full impact of the work or work for free.
Submit weekly. Don't let T&M tickets stack. Don't let approved changes sit unexecuted. Timeliness is leverage. And leverage protects profitability.
Delivered in six modules with supporting templates and attachments. Built for contractors who want to operate with discipline, not theory.
A complete walkthrough of each of the Five Non-Negotiables — what it means, where it fails, and how to install it across your team.
The structure for building defensible pricing that captures the full impact of change order work — PM time, supervision, productivity loss, equipment, G&A.
The weekly submission cadence that turns daily T&M tickets into approved change orders before they stack into a sticker-shock package.
The clauses to redline before signing. Proposed language for notice provisions, authorization standards, and markup structure. Positioning scripts for the negotiation.
Anonymized field cases — the $40K T&M sticker shock, the $1M verbal direction, the patterns across electrical, mechanical, and masonry contractors.
What to say when the GC questions PM time, challenges markup, or rejects productivity loss. The exact language that holds the line without damaging the relationship.
A subcontractor performed extra work under daily signed T&M tickets. The field was getting daily signatures. The office was letting them stack up. The change orders never got submitted because the work "wasn't done yet."
Finally, the whole thing got packaged into one change order and submitted to the GC. Sticker shock. Half questioned. Chunks rejected outright. The sub settled for 50% because the GC had leverage and the sub just wanted to move on.
This was not a documentation failure. The signatures were there. It was a submission failure. Daily T&M tickets are necessary. They are not sufficient. The submission cadence is what decides whether you collect.
The fix is one rule: every Friday, that week's tickets go in as a proposed change order. Tight follow-up on every one. The course walks through the system in full.
The Five Non-Negotiables. Six modules. Templates, contract language, pushback scripts, and real cases. Built for trade contractors who want to operate with discipline.