Change Order Generator — Document Scope Changes Before You Do the Extra Work

A change order is a short document you send a client when they ask for something outside the original agreement — an extra revision round, a new page, a feature that wasn't scoped — so the extra time and cost are agreed in writing before you do the work, not argued about after. TidyPapers' Change Order Generator lives at tidypapers.com/change-order/. This guide covers every field.

When to use this instead of a new invoice

If a client wants something added to a project already underway, a change order documents the addition and its extra cost, referencing the original agreement. Once it's signed off, the extra items on it typically become a line item on your next regular invoice or a Deposit Invoice if you want partial payment upfront for the added work.

Step 1 — Set the currency

A Currency dropdown near the top offers € Euro (EUR), $ US Dollar (USD), £ British Pound (GBP).

Step 2 — Add your logo (optional)

A circular button (showing a placeholder icon until you add one) opens a file picker for a PNG or JPEG logo, same as the Invoice Generator. A "×" button appears once set, to remove it.

Step 3 — Fill in the project reference

1. Project name — a text field, explicitly marked optional in its placeholder.
2. Original scope reference — a multi-line text box. Its placeholder gives the exact phrasing pattern to use: "As agreed in the proposal dated 3 March 2026, covering design and development of 5 pages." This ties the change order back to the agreement it's amending.

Step 4 — Fill in the parties and change order number

1. Your name / business — text field.
2. Client name — text field.
3. Change order number — a text field for identifying this document.
4. Change order date — a date picker.

Step 5 — List the added work as line items

Each line item row has:

1. Description — text field, with the placeholder example "e.g. Extra homepage revision round."
2. Hours — entered in h:mm format, placeholder example 1:30 (one hour thirty minutes). A small live hint below the field shows the decimal equivalent, e.g. "= 1.5 hours," as you type.
3. Rate — an hourly rate, placeholder example 75.
4. Amount — calculated automatically from Hours × Rate; not directly editable.
5. A remove button (×) for that row.

Click "+ Line item" to add more rows.

Step 6 — Totals: buffer and total

1. Subtotal — the sum of all line items, calculated automatically.
2. Buffer — a percentage field added on top of the subtotal, useful for building in a small contingency for unexpected extra time on the added work. The calculated buffer amount shows next to it (e.g. "+$45.00").
3. Total — subtotal plus buffer; the final figure for this change order.

Step 7 — Payment terms and signatures

1. Payment terms / notes — a free-text box, placeholder example: "Due within 14 days."
2. Two signature lines are printed on the document automatically — "Freelancer signature ... Date:" and "Client signature ... Date:" — for both parties to sign, whether on paper or digitally after printing/opening the PDF. There's no e-signature capture on the page itself; these are just printed lines to sign.

Step 8 — Download

1. "📄 Download PDF →" — downloads the change order as a PDF, matching the live preview including the signature lines.
2. A clear/reset action wipes this page's saved data only.

What connects to this tool

The Change Order Generator's business name field is shared with the other tools that carry the business profile (the Invoice Generator, Deposit Invoice Generator, Client Onboarding Kit Generator, and more) — fill it in once anywhere and it's already there here. The client name field is typed in fresh, per document, since it's specific to this change order. The Billable & Pomodoro Timer's own guide notes that a work session running noticeably longer than planned is "exactly the moment to raise" a change order instead of quietly absorbing the extra hours — see Track Time and Bill It End-to-End and How Your Data Moves Between TidyPapers Tools for the full connections picture.