How to Get Customer Approval for Extra Work Before You Start
A field-ready process for converting “while you’re here…” into a clear scope, price, schedule and authority record before the extra work becomes part of the job.
Extra work is where otherwise simple jobs often lose their paper trail. A customer asks for another repair, a concealed condition appears, or the technician recommends an additional task. If the crew proceeds first and documents later, both sides may remember a different scope, price or promise about timing.
Start with one question: is this already inside the approved scope?
Compare the requested task with the signed estimate, work order, proposal or service agreement. If the current document already covers it, you may not need another approval. If the task is new, substituted, expanded or subject to a new price/schedule consequence, document the decision instead of relying on “extra work discussed onsite.”
The five facts a useful approval should capture
Choose the document by the decision, not the label
| Situation | Document that often fits | Core question |
|---|---|---|
| Existing job changes | Change order / amendment mechanism required by the agreement | Do we agree to modify scope, price or time? |
| Service call needs permission | Work authorization / additional-work authorization | May we perform this defined work up to these terms? |
| Customer selects an option | Revised estimate or explicit option approval | Which scope/product/price is being accepted? |
| Work is already complete | Completion record plus separate change documentation if needed | What was delivered, and what remains? |
State price and schedule separately
A change can affect price without changing time, time without changing price, or both. Show additions and credits clearly. If the amount is a maximum authorization rather than a fixed price, label it that way. If a material or inspection will add a return visit or extend completion, write that consequence rather than assuming the customer understood it verbally.
A worked field example
A plumber is replacing a fixture for $650. After opening the wall, damaged shutoff valves are found. The weak record is a text that says “go ahead.” The stronger record identifies the original job, describes replacement of two valves, adds $185, notes that the work can be completed during the current visit, and routes that exact PDF to the customer for approval. Months later, the invoice and the signed change still tell the same story.
Wait for approval when practicable
The point of the workflow is to know whether the customer agreed before the extra cost becomes difficult to reverse. Emergency work, safety issues, statutory duties or contract-specific directives may require a different process. Treat those cases as exceptions with their own documentation rather than letting urgency become the default workflow.
What if the customer declines or never responds?
Keep the original approved scope intact unless another agreement, safety requirement or legal duty changes the situation. Do not convert silence into approval unless your governing documents and applicable law clearly support that process. In PocketESign, a request that is declined, cancelled or expires without completion releases the applicable reserved credit rather than permanently consuming it.