Risinger Build Behind the Business: Mastering the not-always-so-easy change order process (Part 3 of 5)

This week, we bring you the third in a series highlighting Risinger Build and The Build Show Network out of Austin, Texas. In this five-part series, you’ll learn from Matt Risinger, CEO and chief builder, and his team about the future of residential construction. Find out how one of the most well-respected businesses in the industry got to its level of success – and the role tech played in helping it get there.

In the early days of Risinger Build, Matt experienced a six-figure change order mistake that threatened the future of his business.

“One of the things that drove me to move to Buildertrend initially was a huge error that we made on not doing change orders properly,” Matt said. “It was a really painful and costly mistake that we don’t ever wanna make again.”

With Buildertrend, Matt has been able to document everything and protect his company from risk as well as communicate with clients on the Customer Portal.

In this video, Matt and Steve Lesem, COO at Risinger Build, discuss how change orders through Buildertrend were the safest way to improve their bottom line.

Lower your risk with change order software

By maintaining transparency throughout the change order process, you’ll reduce conflict and establish a trusting relationship with your clients. When everything is documented, your clients are in the know on project updates, and your risks are reduced.

“When we didn’t have proper documentation, we had a client who didn’t want to pay the bill. I put my company and my family at risk because it was a six-figure mistake,” Matt said. “Using the tools that are available through Buildertrend, we’ve made sure that mistake has not happened again.”

Change order software allows you to clearly communicate the agreed-upon changes, which include both budget and schedule impacts. When these updates pop up, it’s not easy because everything is affected.

Steve agrees that change orders are an inconvenience. He said, “Everyone knows that change orders are a giant pain. They’re a pain in every way possible.”

The way to reduce the pain is to simplify your change order process in a construction management software.

Document everything to protect your business from failure

Steve talks about the move to Buildertrend helping the “memorialization of change orders.” He wanted a central place where project updates were clearly communicated to all stakeholders with documentation of accepted changes.

“Honestly, it doesn’t matter what kind of contract you have, whether you have a cost plus or a fixed contract. If you do work and you don’t have it properly documented, you put yourself at a pretty fair amount of risk,” Matt said. “I took a lot of risk by assuming that the contract would rule the day and that the client understood that they were paying the cost.”

Your change order software should include the scope of the changes, revised timeline, updated budget and the most important piece for your protection – the client sign-off agreeing to the updates. If there’s an issue down the line, you have the signature as backup. It’s important to establish a clear change order process that your entire team follows closely.

“We sought out a software solution that might help us, especially in the field, to make sure that we’re getting change orders properly documented so that we’ve dotted our I’s and crossed our T’s,” Matt said.

Improve client relationships

The many moving parts in a construction project mean mistakes and modifications are bound to happen. Being transparent with your clients about these project updates should be a top priority. An easy place for this open and direct communication is the Customer Portal where change orders can be shared with clients to receive electronic signatures. This way everything is documented. It’s quick. Easy. And you don’t have to meet face to face.

“Custom home building is not an easy job. There’s a lot of accounting and a lot of details. If you do it well and you have integrity, you’re gonna have happy clients,” Matt said. “That’s really been my experience, and I think Buildertrend can really help you in your business.” 

The Customer Portal is a reliable spot for setting expectations and tracking progress. Prioritizing transparency means engaging communication to build clients’ trust, managing project updates and ultimately delivering successful projects.

When your team is up against a tough decision, Daily Logs and the scheduling software can help. Daily Logs give you project-specific notes, photographs and weather updates to clearly show where progress stands. Buildertrend’s Scheduling tool will show you what’s up next and if there are any delays. The best part about these tools is that your clients can easily see the updates on their own – they simply log in whenever they want to learn the project’s progress.

When everything is in sync and moving forward, mistakes and rework can be reduced and your team can stay profitable.

Buildertrend helps maintain transparency and protects your business from failure

Take Matt’s word for it and document everything. Risinger Build is a great example of why you should master the change order process with a smart construction management software like Buildertrend.

If you’re not already using Buildertrend, schedule a demo to get started today.

Check back for the fourth installment of our Behind the Business series. Matt discusses the importance of building a strong community of contractors. Did you read our previous installment about how to transition to a paperless construction company?