The contractor opened the wall, found something ugly and put a change order in front of Dad. Dad wants the crew moving again. You want enough paper to know what he is buying.
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Both positions make sense. An open wall is not improved by a family summit. But a change order that says additional work needed is not a decision. It is permission to argue later.
Your job is not to take the contract away from Dad. Your job is to make the new page answer the same questions the original contract should have answered: What changed, why did it change, what will be done, what will it cost and what happens to the rest of the job?
Start with the original scope
Put the signed contract, proposal and change order next to each other. Find the original line that covers the affected work. If the contractor says the new work was excluded, ask where the exclusion appears. If the contractor says the condition could not have been seen earlier, ask what was opened, removed or tested before it was found.
This is not a courtroom exercise. It tells you whether the paper describes a genuine change or charges Dad again for work already promised.
Mark four things on the original contract: the scope, allowances, exclusions and change-order procedure. An allowance is money reserved for an item whose final selection or quantity was not settled. An exclusion is work the contractor says is outside the deal. The change-order clause should say who may approve a change and whether approval must come before the work starts.
If those terms are missing or hard to follow, do not repair them with a handshake. Put the clarification on the change order.
Make the paper name the condition
Found damage needs a location and a limit. Rot behind the siding is not enough. The order should identify the wall or opening, the material affected and how far the quoted removal extends. If the full extent will not be known until more material comes off, split the decision.
The first authorization can cover investigation or removal up to a stated boundary. The contractor can then show Dad what was uncovered and issue another written price for the repair. That keeps discovery work from becoming unlimited repair authority.
Ask for photographs before the condition is covered. Label them with the room, wall, opening or other useful location. Keep the original files with the contract packet. A photograph does not decide who owes what, but it records what prompted the change.
Separate the price from the guess
Find out whether the new amount is fixed, an allowance, or time and materials. Those are different deals.
A fixed amount should state what work and materials it covers. An allowance should state what is included, how an overage will be approved and whether unused money comes back as a credit. A time-and-materials order should state labor rates, which workers may be billed, material markup, equipment charges and a ceiling that cannot be exceeded without another written approval.
Also ask whether the change creates a credit. If the revised method deletes work, materials or fixtures from the original scope, the order should subtract them. Added work belongs on the same page as removed work. Otherwise Dad can pay for both versions.
The Missouri Attorney General’s consumer materials tell homeowners to obtain written estimates and put the job description, completion terms and price in writing. The desk keeps that public guidance in its source file. The useful point at Dad’s table is simple: total added is not a scope.
Carry the change through the schedule
A price change can also be a calendar change. Ask how many working days the change adds, whether materials must be ordered and whether another part of the house will remain unusable while the crew waits.
Do not accept schedule adjusted as necessary. The order should identify the expected effect or say that there is none. If the contractor cannot give an exact completion point, the paper can still name the next milestone, such as inspection, material arrival or closure of the opened wall.
Then check payment timing. The new amount should not automatically become due at signing. Tie payment to a visible event: delivery of a specified material, completion of the added work, required inspection or final completion. The Missouri Attorney General’s home-repair guidance says full payment should wait until the contract terms are met, as collected on the site’s sources page.
Do not let the change order erase the warranty
Read the small print above the signature. Some forms do more than add work. They may waive delay claims, approve work already performed, accept existing conditions or replace earlier promises.
Ask the contractor to state whether the added labor and materials receive the same warranty as the original work. If they do not, the order should identify the different coverage, its starting point and the company responsible for service.
Also confirm that every other term of the original contract remains in force. A short line saying all other contract terms remain unchanged closes a surprisingly large hole.
Know whose signature can commit Dad
If Dad owns the house and understands the decision, the contract is his to accept or reject. Being his son does not give you authority to sign for him. A power of attorney may grant authority, but the document itself controls what the agent can do. Questions about authority belong with a Missouri attorney, not the salesperson waiting in the kitchen.
You can still help without becoming the signer. Read the papers with Dad, write down the missing terms, photograph the condition and ask the contractor to revise the order. If Dad wants local legal or consumer help, use the contacts collected under Local Help in St. Louis.
If work has already started
Do not sign a backdated approval just to tidy the file. Write down what has already been removed, installed or covered, who authorized it and what remains unfinished. Ask the contractor to separate completed extra work from proposed extra work.
Keep copies of the contract, every change order, invoices, payment records, photographs and written messages. Missouri’s consumer complaint instructions call for copies of documents such as contracts, invoices, warranties, receipts and communications. That source route is recorded on the site’s sources page. Keep the originals with Dad.
If the contractor will not state the scope or price in writing, the answer tonight is not a larger deposit. It is a pause on disputed extra work while the house is left safe and protected.
The next move tonight
Put the unsigned change order beside the original contract. Circle the changed location, scope, price, credit, schedule effect, payment trigger and warranty. Anything missing goes into one written message to the contractor. Ask for a revised change order that answers those points, then let Dad decide from the completed page.