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What you need to know

Change management is a comparison against an expectation you set on day one. Steps one through four get built once, at kickoff and in the agreement. Step five runs every time the boundary moves.

Before you say any number, including “no charge,” ask one question. Does the agreement already include this?

On the call, the warmth comes first and the confirmation comes second. I would love to help you with that. Thank you for asking.

The five steps. The Project Manager builds steps 1 to 4 before the first request arrives, and runs step 5 on every request.

What to do

Seven actions. These are the ones that decide what a change costs you.

What to do

Ask the step one question at kickoff and write down the answer. The client hears the rule before there is a request to apply it to.
Open the Change Log on the day the project starts. Log every request, approved, declined or watched.
Put the 5 review periods on the schedule your client sees. A date on the schedule settles what a comment costs.
Agree who can request added scope, and how it is priced, before anyone asks for any.
Run the three checks on every request, in order. Schedule, then coordination, then scope.
Say “I would love to help you with that” before you say anything else. Then check the impact.
Get the yes in writing, then update the log, the schedule, the fee, the team and the client.

What to watch out for

Seven signals. Each one shows up in a meeting or an email, and each one costs more the longer it sits.

What to watch out for

A request that sounds like a small favor. The person asking cannot see the work behind it.
Comments that arrive after a review period closed. They change finished work.
A clause such as “meetings as required” that two people can read two ways.
A code requirement that everyone assumes is already decided, in either direction.
Your own team doing extra work that nobody logged.
A client who says “just start.” Agree to speed, and run the check.
A Change Log that holds only approved changes. It shows what Grace charged for, and nothing else.

What to avoid

Seven habits. Each one feels helpful in the moment.

What to avoid

Building the change process in the same conversation where the client is asking.
Saying any number, including “no charge,” before you check the agreement. A number said is hard to take back.
Reading an unclear contract alone. Take it to the PIC.
Opening with the fee. Give the time first.
Recommending a path before the client has weighed both.
Releasing the team on a verbal yes. An email is enough, and a phone call alone is not.
Sending the change order with the invoice. Submit it before the work starts.

The Change Log

One entry per request, opened the day it arrives. Every field, every time.

Field	What you write	Oakhaven example
Date	The day the request arrived.	September 18, 2026
Description	What was asked, in plain words.	Secure evidence storage room in the police wing.
Reason	Why the change is needed, and who raised it.	Owner request in a design review. Not in the program.
Estimated cost	Hours and fee, or $0.	$12,500 plus coordination.
Impact	What it changes in schedule, coordination and scope.	Security consultant added. Layout reworked.
Status	Approved, Declined, or Watched.	Approved September 28. Amendment 01, fee plus $12,500.

Status	Use it when
Approved	The work goes ahead, inside Basic Services or under a signed amendment. The Fire Marshal’s separation was Approved at $0.
Declined	The client or Grace decided not to do the work. Keep the entry.
Watched	Nobody has acted on it yet. Grace’s alternate roof assembly option was Watched.

Review periods

SD, DD, CD 30, CD 60 and CD 90. Put them on the schedule the client already sees.

Before and after a closed review. Comments before it are part of the review. Work that changes a closed milestone is rework, and rework earns compensation.

Three checks, then the four item package

Run the checks in this order on every request. Assemble the package before you bring a number to anyone.

Check	Why it sits here
1 · Schedule	A change against a fixed end date is the easiest to miss until it is expensive.
2 · Coordination	An extra meeting or review cycle shows up on a timesheet and never on a drawing.
3 · Scope	The agreement already writes it down.

Package item	The question it answers
Outside the agreement	What does the request add beyond the agreement?
Effect on work in progress	What does it change in work already under way?
Time estimate	How long, and does holding the schedule need more people?
Coordination added	Which meetings, reviews and consultants does it add?

Does the agreement already include this?

Where the answer goes

Four answers. The contract decides, whoever raised the request.

Answer	The test	What you do
Basic Services	The agreement already includes the work.	Log it as Approved at $0, and do the work.
Additional service	The work falls outside the agreement.	Assemble the package, return the impact, offer the two paths.
Take it to the PIC	The contract is unclear rather than silent.	Say no number to the client until the PIC reads the clause.
Log and watch	Nobody has asked for the work yet.	Log it as Watched, and run the checks if the client says yes.

Small or large

Sort the request before the conversation starts.

Size	The test	What you do
Small	It does not move a review period, and it does not add real coordination hours.	Log it, say it warmly, move ahead. “I would love to help with that, and it is small enough to note in our change tracker and move ahead.”
Large	It touches the schedule, the coordination or the scope.	Run the whole four part conversation, in order.

The four part conversation

A large change gets all four parts, always in this order.

Acknowledge, check, return, choose. The first part is free, and it decides how the client hears the other three.

Part	What you do	Say it like this
Name it early	The moment you sense a request might touch the change rule.	“This might touch what we agreed on changes. Let me check before we go further.”
Acknowledge	Open with interest, before any confirmation.	“I would love to help you with that, thank you for asking. Let me confirm what it affects before we commit.”
Check	Run the three checks and assemble the package internally.	Nothing to the client yet.
Return	Give the impact in time first, then the fee.	“This is about a week of work across three disciplines…”
Choose	Offer both paths as equal, and let the client pick.	The two path script, below.

The two paths, word for word

Say it as written, and offer both paths as equals. Both are a yes to more work.

“We can proceed one of two ways. One, we accept your written authorization to proceed and track this as an additional time and materials service, billed at our hourly rates. Or two, we pause this item, develop a scope and fee, and send you a formal agreement for additional services. Which would you prefer?”

Four situations, say this first

The scripted answers from Video 2. Keep the first words the same every time.

Situation	Say this first	What you agree to
The client says “just start”	“I would love to get you moving on this right away. Let me confirm the impact before we release the team, and I will have an answer for you by tomorrow.”	Speed, with the check still in place.
It looks outside the agreement	“I would love to help you get there. That looks different from what the agreement currently includes, so let me check the agreement and confirm the impact before we tell you whether this needs an amendment.”	Help, and a check of the document.
A code official drives it	“This requirement changes the work, and we are glad to help you meet it. That does not automatically mean it is an additional service, so we need to compare it against the agreement and understand the impact first.”	Meeting the code. The contract decides who pays.
Your team found it first	To the team. “Don’t start yet. Show me where this sits against the current scope, and what changes if we do it.”	A same day log entry, before the hours are spent.

Finished means written

A verbal yes shows intent, but it does not by itself authorize the work. The conversation is finished when every line below is done.

1 · The client’s written yes is on file. An email is enough.

2 · The Change Log entry holds the decision and the date.

3 · The schedule and the fee show the new numbers.

4 · The team heard the decision, in the same words.

5 · The next client status update says what changed and why.

6 · The change order went in before the work started.