The change order is the most misused mechanism in the GTA renovation industry. Used properly it is a fair and necessary tool. Renovation happens inside existing buildings, things do turn up behind walls, and homeowners do change their minds. A written change order protects both sides. Used badly, it turns a competitive quote into a final invoice thirty or forty per cent higher than the number you agreed to. Not usually through fraud, but through a quote that quietly excluded things everyone knew would be needed. Knowing which is which is one of the most valuable things a GTA homeowner can learn before signing.
A change order is a written document that amends an existing renovation contract. It records a specific change to the scope, the materials, the price or the schedule, and it is signed by both parties before the affected work proceeds. A properly drafted one contains all of the following:
If a change order does not show the running total, ask for it. The cumulative figure is the number that matters and it is the one most often left off.
Here is the piece almost no article on this topic mentions, and it is the most useful thing on this page. Under section 10 of Ontario's Consumer Protection Act, 2002, where your agreement includes an estimate, the contractor cannot charge you more than ten per cent above that estimate unless you agree in writing to an amended price, or you ask for additional or different work. If they charge more than that, you can require them to do the work at the estimated price. Ontario courts have applied this to residential renovation contracts. Two consequences follow, and they run in both directions.
For you: the protection only exists if the estimate is written into the agreement. A verbal "it will probably run a bit over" triggers nothing. If a contractor resists putting a number in writing, that is your answer about how the project will be priced.
For the contractor: a signed change order is precisely how they lawfully exceed the estimate. It is your agreement to an amended price. This is why a contractor who insists on written change orders is protecting themselves as much as you, and why one who shrugs off the paperwork is not doing you a favour.The homeowner's protection and the contractor's protection are the same document.
1. You asked for something different. You want a different countertop, a wall moved, a bathroom added to the scope, hardwood instead of LVP. These are your decisions and they cost money. A written change order means you know the price before you commit.
2. A genuinely concealed condition. Demolition reveals rotted framing from a leak nobody knew about. The walls open and there is knob-and-tube behind them. A joist is undersized. The slab is thicker than the drawings indicated.The operative word is genuinely. A competent contractor working in GTA housing stock knows the probability of finding these things in a 1955 semi and prices accordingly. Not every discovery behind a wall is a legitimate extra. Some of it is inadequate assessment at the estimate stage.
3. An authority requires something. An inspector requires a code upgrade triggered by the work, or a permit condition adds scope. Legitimate, unless it results from the contractor's own failure to build to the drawings.
4. Allowance reconciliation. This is the category most homeowners never see coming, and it accounts for more overrun than concealed conditions do.Where tile, cabinetry or fixtures were not selected at contract stage, the quote carries a dollar allowance, and choosing something pricier is a legitimate change order. The trap is allowances covering material only: the material difference is expected, but the extra labour to install it arrives as a further extra.Get every allowance stated in dollars with its coverage defined: material only, or material plus installation.
A manufactured change order covers something a competent contractor should have anticipated and priced, or something that was known before the estimate and left out to keep the number competitive. Treat all of these as red flags if they appear after construction begins:
None of these are unforeseen conditions. They are the real price of the project arriving late. The tell is timing. If an item could have been priced from a walkthrough and a set of drawings, it should have been.
This one is genuinely not one-sided. Under section 30 of Ontario's Occupational Health and Safety Act, the owner must determine whether designated substances such as asbestos are present before a project begins and provide that list to every contractor pricing the work. That duty sits with you.
So when asbestos turns up in stipple ceiling or floor tile adhesive in a pre-1990 house, abatement is normally a legitimate extra at the owner's cost, and the stoppage is not the contractor stalling.Get a designated substances survey before you price the job. A few hundred dollars converts the largest source of mid-project cost shock into a known number.
Most guides say an email or text is not a change order. That is only half right, and the half they leave out is the half that costs homeowners money.
Verbal instructions authorize nothing. A conversation on site with a carpenter is not an approval, and site personnel should have no authority to price work.
But a written instruction from you can create liability without a signed form. If you email "yes, go ahead," and the contractor performs the work relying on it, a court may find you liable for its reasonable value even though no change order was signed.The practical rule: never approve anything in writing until you have a number. "Send me a change order with the price" is the correct reply to "do you want us to go ahead?"
If scope is removed, you are entitled to a credit. Expect it to be less than you hoped, and understand why. The credit reflects what the contractor actually avoids, not the retail value. Work already performed, design already done, labour committed, materials ordered, restocking fees and cancellation charges come off first, and custom items in production are usually not creditable at all. That is legitimate. A credit of zero with no explanation is not.
Individually, change orders feel small. Cumulatively they are the whole problem. Keep your own running list from day one: number, date, amount, new contract total, percentage above the original. Set a threshold, say ten per cent cumulative, at which you stop and have a full conversation about where the project is heading rather than approving items one at a time.
Before you sign, confirm the contract contains all of this:
A contract that is silent on change orders, or that talks vaguely about adjustments being made as needed, hands the contractor discretion to add cost during construction without your formal approval.
You have more options than most homeowners realize.
Refuse to sign. You are entitled to review, negotiate or decline any proposed change order. Nothing proceeds until you agree.
Adjudication under the Construction Act. Ontario's Part II.1 interim adjudication regime expressly covers disputes over payment in respect of a change order, whether approved or not. It is faster and cheaper than litigation, and the right to use it cannot be contracted out of.
Small Claims Court handles claims up to $35,000.
The Consumer Protection Act. If the final bill exceeds a written estimate by more than ten per cent without your agreement, you can require the work at the estimated price.
Change orders concentrate on projects with a thin front end. The fix is unglamorous and it works:
Can a contractor charge more than the quote in Ontario?
Not by more than ten per cent above a written estimate that forms part of your agreement, unless you agree to an amended price or request additional work.
Do I have to sign a change order?
No. You may review, negotiate or decline it. Work should not proceed until you sign.
Is an email approval a change order?
It is not a change order, but it can still make you liable for the reasonable value of work done in reliance on it. Ask for a priced change order before approving anything in writing.
Who pays when asbestos is found?
Normally the owner. Under the Occupational Health and Safety Act the owner is required to identify designated substances before the project starts.
What if we cannot agree on a change order?
Interim adjudication under Part II.1 of the Construction Act covers change order disputes, including unapproved ones, and cannot be contracted out of.
Maple Leaf Quality Renos issues an explicit written change order requirement in every contract. No additional work proceeds without a signed change order, every one carries a fixed price and a running total before you authorize it, and allowances are stated in dollars with their coverage defined from the start.
Contact us for a free, no-obligation consultation and a detailed written estimate.
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