The Customer Said Yes by Text. You Still Didn't Get Paid.

Most unbilled work on a trade or remodel job doesn't start with a formal change order request. It starts with a text.

"Yes, go ahead." "Sure, add that." "While you're there, can you also..." You saw the reply. You did the work. Weeks later, when you write the invoice, that piece is gone. Or you leave it off because it feels awkward to bill something that never got a price.

That pattern is how good bids turn into thin margins.

Why a text "yes" feels like enough

In the moment, it is enough to keep the crew moving. The customer is standing in the room. The plumber is already there. Stopping for paperwork feels slower than just doing the thing.

The problem shows up later. A text that says "yes" rarely says yes to what. Yes to the vanity move? Yes to the extra outlet? Yes to matching the old tile across the whole wall? Without a price and a short description, you and the customer can remember two different jobs.

Your phone is full of approvals. Your invoice is not.

Three places verbal approvals hide

1. Mid-job design tweaks. Moving a fixture 18 inches after rough-in. Adding a second paint color. Changing a door swing. Each one is "small" until you add labor, materials, and a return trip.

2. Owner-supplied items that show up wrong. The faucet arrives incomplete. The light fixture needs a different box. You make it work so the schedule holds. Making it work is still work. If your scope never said how owner-supplied problems get billed, that time often stays free.

3. The walkthrough that turns into new work. Punch list day. The customer points at three more items. You want a clean handoff, so you fix them. Two of those items were never in the original scope.

None of these feel like a fight when they happen. They feel like being a good contractor. Being a good contractor and getting paid can both be true if you write the change down first.

A simple rule that fits on a phone

Before anyone starts the extra work, send one short message with four lines:

1. What you're adding or changing
2. Why (customer request, concealed condition, owner-supplied issue)
3. Price or how you'll price it (lump sum, or hours at $X plus materials)
4. "Reply YES to approve before we start"

Save that thread. Screenshot it into the job folder the same day. That is your change order for most small trades work. You don't need a lawyer's document for a $400 add. You need a clear ask and a clear yes before tools move.

If they don't reply, don't start. Waiting one day beats arguing for three weeks after the final invoice.

What to do with the ones you already missed

Pick one finished job from the last 90 days. Open the contract or proposal. Open the text and email thread. Mark every request that wasn't in the original scope.

Then ask one question per item: did we bill it?

You'll usually find a pile of small yeses that never hit an invoice. That pile is the real lesson. It tells you whether next month's problem is bidding higher, or billing what you already agreed to do.

Padding every future bid to cover last job's leaks usually costs you winnable work and still leaves the leak open. Fix the billing habit first.

Put the habit in the next contract

A few plain lines up front save the awkward texts later:

• Changes requested by the owner are billed as change orders and need written approval (text is fine) before work starts.
• Concealed conditions are billed at $X/hr plus materials after you show the customer a photo.
• Owner-supplied materials that are late, wrong, or incomplete: extra trips and wait time are billable.

Say it once, in writing, before the job starts. Then the mid-job text is just following the rule, not inventing a new one.

Or have someone else pull the thread apart

If you've got a finished job where the texts say yes and the invoice still looks light, that's the job to audit.

ScopeGuard's $499 scope audit is a one-time check. You send one finished job: the proposal or contract, plus the emails, texts, and change requests. Within 48 hours you get back where the scope drifted, what work went unbilled, and change-order language you can reuse. No subscription.

Order it on the job that still bugs you. See what the texts actually cost.