The work is done, the invoice went out, and the customer says they never agreed to the extras. What now depends heavily on one question: do you have anything in writing?
Step 1: Assemble what you have
Even without a signed change order, you may have more than you think: text messages discussing the extra work, emails, photos of the condition that forced the change, dated material receipts, witnesses. Collect all of it before any negotiation — the customer’s willingness to settle tracks directly with how documented you look.
Step 2: Send a documented demand, not an angry one
Re-invoice with a short cover letter: what was done, why it was outside the original scope, what evidence is attached, and a payment deadline. Many refusals are opening positions, not final answers — a customer who sees organized documentation usually recalculates.
Step 3: Know your legal fallbacks
- Mechanics lien / construction lien: in most of the US and Canada you can lien the property for unpaid work — deadlines are strict (often 60–90 days), so check yours early
- Waiver and unjust enrichment: courts have sometimes let contractors recover without a written change order, when conduct showed the customer knew about and accepted the work — but this is the expensive, uncertain path
- Small claims court: viable for amounts under your local limit, especially with texts and photos in hand
This is general information, not legal advice — for real money, talk to a construction lawyer in your jurisdiction.
Step 4: Fix the system, not just the invoice
Every unpaid extra traces back to the same moment: work started before a signature existed. The fix is boring and total — no signature, no extra work, made painless by pricing and signing on the spot from your phone (here’s the on-site script).
What “proof” looks like when it’s done right
A signed ScopeProof change order carries the drawn signature, printed name, and timestamp, tied to exact line items — and signed documents are locked, never editable. With dispute-proof mode (Pro), the app also records a SHA-256 cryptographic hash at signing: if anyone later claims the document was altered, re-verification proves it wasn’t, byte for byte. Photos carry GPS and timestamps, and one tap exports an evidence ZIP — photos, signature, PDF, and a verification manifest — ready to hand to a lawyer, adjuster, or judge.
Never have this argument again
ScopeProof gets the signature before the work starts — and Pro’s dispute-proof mode adds a cryptographic hash at signing, GPS-tagged photos, and a court-ready evidence ZIP if anyone ever claims they “never agreed to that.”
