Notice of Change: What Subcontractors Must Send and When

A notice of change is a written notice a subcontractor serves on the party named in the contract to say that changed work, a changed condition, or a delay may affect cost or schedule. It is what keeps your right to additional time and money alive. Send it late, to the wrong person, or without the required content, and you may lose a claim you would otherwise have won.

If you landed here looking for a court form to change an address or a lawyer of record, this is not that page. This guide is for commercial subcontractors dealing with changes on a job.

TL;DR

• A notice of change is a formal written communication that triggers the contract’s change mechanisms and reserves your right to recover time and cost.
• It is not a change order. The notice starts the process, and a signed change order closes it.
• Read your subcontract for the deadline, the designated recipient, and the delivery method before the job starts, because courts can enforce those terms strictly.
• Give timely notice even when numbers are incomplete, and say that details will follow.
• Document the change the same day: who directed it, what was done, labor hours, materials, and photos.

Table of Contents

• What a notice of change means in a subcontract
• Notice of change vs. change request vs. change order
• When to send the notice
• What to include
• How to deliver it
• What happens when notice is late or incomplete
• Document the change while you wait
• Our perspective
• Keeping notices and change records in one place
• A short notice-of-change routine
• FAQ
• Sources

What a notice of change means in a subcontract

In construction contracts, a notice is a formal written communication about a change or an impact event. It is served on a designated party to trigger contract mechanisms so the contractor can pursue additional time and cost and reserve its recovery rights.

The terminology is loose. A university construction contracting text notes that “change notice” is sometimes used in place of “change order”. Other contracts use “notice of claim,” “notice of delay,” “request for change,” or “potential change order.” The label matters less than what your contract says triggers your rights. Check which term your agreement uses and treat that as the one that counts.

Three situations usually call for a notice:

1. Directed changes. The general contractor or owner tells you to do something that is not in your scope, or to do it differently.
2. Changed conditions. You find site conditions that differ from the documents, such as an obstruction behind a wall or a different substrate.
3. Delay or disruption. Another trade, a late decision, or an out-of-sequence release pushes your work.

The first two often become priced change orders. The third often becomes a time extension and a cost claim. All three depend on notice.

Notice of change vs. change request vs. change order

These three get mixed up on job sites, and mixing them up is how claims get lost.

One legal commentary describes it this way: a change request lets a contractor propose changes or seek relief, while a change order is a mutually signed amendment. Once a change order is executed, it establishes finality. You generally cannot later seek a price increase or schedule extension for what it covers.

That finality is why you read the paper before you sign it. The NECA subcontractor handbook warns that written change orders effectively alter the operative contract, including scope, price, and time, and may contain releases or waivers. If your delay costs are not in the change order, a release clause may close the door on them.

The same law firm points out a practical reality: owners often control the schedule, so contractors generally need to use the change request process to be made whole while continuing to work, instead of stopping work to negotiate. A good notice lets you keep working and keep your rights.

When to send the notice

The short answer: as soon as you know, and never later than your contract allows.

Standard notice clauses typically require written notice to a specific designated party as soon as you become aware of the impact event or condition. Contract notice provisions generally set a timeframe for written notice of an event that may adversely affect the project’s budget or schedule.

The windows can be very short. Federal construction contracts show the principle. The differing site conditions clause requires prompt written notice before the conditions are disturbed, and without that notice an equitable adjustment request is not allowed unless the contracting officer extends the time. Private subcontracts often set fixed day counts, and they vary by project. Some require notice within a few calendar days of discovering a condition, and some give a few working days for delay notices. Your own subcontract and its flow-down terms control.

Four moments that should trigger a notice check on any job:

• A verbal direction from a superintendent or project manager that changes your scope
• An RFI response that adds work
• A site condition that does not match the drawings
• A schedule update that moves your start, resequences your crew, or compresses your duration

If you wait until pricing is final, you have probably already missed the window. Treat the notice and the price as two separate steps.

What to include

A solid notice is short and specific. Industry guidance says it should state the event or condition, its actual or anticipated effects, and estimated time and cost impacts, along with the affected schedule activities and the cause, effect, and length of the impact. The same guidance advises supporting documentation within the specified period.

Use this structure:

1. Contract and project reference. Project name, subcontract number, your company, and the date.
2. The event. What happened, where, when, and who directed or caused it. Name the person and the form of direction (verbal, email, RFI, meeting).
3. Contract basis. The clause you are relying on, and the drawing or spec section that shows the work is outside your scope.
4. Effects. Work affected, crews affected, and the schedule activities touched.
5. Estimated impact. A preliminary range for cost and time if you can. If you cannot, say so and say when you will provide it.
6. Reservation of rights. A plain statement that you reserve the right to additional time and compensation and will submit a full proposal.
7. Request for direction. Ask whether to proceed and under what terms.

If detailed information is not available yet, send the notice anyway. One construction claims consultant explains that a timely notice should still go out with an indication that further details will follow.

What the pricing needs to show

The notice starts the clock. The proposal that follows has to survive review. Public owners show what reviewers expect. A national laboratory’s change order procedure requires proposals to identify and substantiate labor, materials, lower-tier subcontractor costs, payroll taxes, insurance, bonds, overhead, profit, equipment, and other jobsite costs. It also asks for schedule support, including a critical-path network showing the effect of the change, and calculations that are transparent and verifiable.

Caltrans’ construction manual says documentation should explain what the change provides, why it is needed, and its contractual basis, plus the compensation analysis. You are not bidding for Caltrans, but a private general contractor’s project manager is asking the same questions: what changed, why it is not your scope, and how you got the number.

How to deliver it

A notice that never reaches the right person is not a notice. Check four things in your subcontract:

• Form. Most clauses require writing. A phone call or a hallway conversation does not count, and neither may a text message.
• Recipient. The clause names a title or an address. Sending it to the field superintendent when the contract names the project executive can defeat the notice.
• Method. Some contracts require certified mail or a specific portal, and some accept email. Follow the clause exactly, then send a courtesy copy by email.
• Deadline. Count the days the way the contract counts them: calendar days, working days, or business days, from discovery or from the event.

On public work, add one more check. The NECA handbook stresses that it is critical to confirm agency personnel directing the change have authority to direct changes and execute change orders. An inspector’s verbal instruction may not bind the owner.

Smith Currie, a construction law firm, stresses that understanding notice requirements is of paramount importance, and it suggests contractors develop a systematic approach to notice during construction. A systematic approach means a notice log, a template, and one person responsible. Design-related changes deserve particular attention, since contractor design portion risk can shift responsibility for cost and coordination onto the trade doing the work.

What happens when notice is late or incomplete

Courts can be unforgiving. AGC of Washington reported that a Washington court upheld dismissal of a subcontractor’s $1.5 million additional compensation claim after it failed to obtain a change order or give the contract-required notice. A Davis Wright Tremaine analysis of Washington case law adds that leaving out required information such as cost and time ramifications can sink a claim.

This is not only a Washington issue, but enforcement varies by state and by contract, so ask your attorney how courts in your state treat notice clauses. A construction law firm’s guidance on change management says failing to follow notice and claim provisions can prejudice discussions of project changes, waive a claim, or weaken your leverage in change-order negotiations.

Two contract features raise the risk:

• Work-through-dispute clauses. The NECA handbook cautions that some contracts contain work-through-dispute provisions that can disadvantage subcontractors, so you should limit them and protect your right to payment.
• Pricing after the fact. The same handbook advises pricing change work promptly and, where possible, before performing it.

If you are served with a notice rejection, find out why. A rejection often means the other side considers the work part of the original scope. That is a scope argument, so answer it with the drawings, specs, and bid scope.

Document the change while you wait

Review takes time, and the work cannot always wait. Build the record while the notice is pending:

• Photograph the condition before, during, and after.
• Record who directed the work, when, and in what form.
• Track labor by crew, by day, and by cost code, tagged to the change.
• Keep material receipts and equipment time.
• Get a signed T&M ticket from the general contractor’s representative daily where the contract allows.
• Log every notice sent, with date, recipient, and method.

Our same-day field checklist for change order documentation walks through what to capture on site, and our guide on same-hour change order notices explains why speed in the first hour matters. If unbilled extras are your recurring problem, the five-step scope creep control process targets that directly. Once the change is approved, cutting change order turnaround keeps the money from sitting in review, and progress billing is where approved changes must show up on the pay application.

Our perspective

We built Won2Build around a pattern we kept seeing in subcontractor shops: the work happens in the field, and the paperwork happens days later in the office. By then the foreman’s memory of who asked for what has faded, the hours are in one place, and the notice is in someone’s drafts. Subcontractors rarely lose change claims because the work was not extra. They lose them because the proof was scattered.

Our view is simple. Treat the notice as a field event, not an office chore. The person who sees the change should be able to flag it the same day, with the hours and the photos attached, and the office should see it instantly. Double entry between time records and change order pricing is where numbers drift and details disappear. A single login and one flow of data from field to office closes that gap.

No software replaces reading your contract. Know your deadlines, know your recipient, and build a habit of sending notice first and pricing second.

— Jen Reese

Keeping notices and change records in one place

Change documentation is easier when labor tracking and change orders share one system. CO Hub manages change orders and T&M tickets, and Time Budge tracks field labor by project, so the hours behind a change are already recorded when you price it. They work under one login in the Won2Build Hub, so nobody retypes data between apps.

Published pricing on our pricing page: CO Hub is $59 per month per company, Time Budge is $199 per month per company, Bid Track is $199 per month per company, and active field workers are $2 per month each. Takeoff and the Hub itself are $0 per month. You can also look at Time Budge for labor tracking.

Bids matter here too. A clear scope and clean exclusions at bid time make a later change notice far easier to defend, and our bid submission checklist and guide to what a commercial construction addendum changes show how to lock them down.

A short notice-of-change routine

Before the job starts:

1. Pull the notice, change, and claim clauses from your subcontract and from any flow-down terms.
2. Write the deadline, recipient, and delivery method on a one-page cheat sheet for every foreman and project manager.
3. Save a notice template with your reservation-of-rights language, reviewed by your attorney.

When a change happens:

1. Tell the foreman to stop and flag it, then keep the crew working if directed.
2. Send the written notice to the named recipient within the contract window.
3. Log it, with the date, method, and person who received it.
4. Track cost and time against the change from the first hour.
5. Submit the priced proposal with backup within the period the contract sets.
6. Read the change order for releases and waivers before you sign.

FAQ

Is a notice of change the same as a change order?

No. A notice of change alerts the other party that something may affect your cost or time and reserves your rights. A change order is the signed amendment that adjusts scope, price, and time. The notice usually comes first, and the change order comes after pricing is agreed.

Can I send a notice before I know the cost?

Yes, and you usually should. Send timely written notice with what you know, state that cost and time details will follow, and then submit the full proposal within the contract period. Waiting for exact numbers risks missing the deadline.

Does an email count as written notice?

Only if your subcontract allows it. Some contracts accept email, while others require a named delivery method such as certified mail or a project portal. Follow the clause exactly, and send a courtesy email copy as well.

What if the general contractor tells me to proceed without a change order?

Send the notice anyway, record who gave the direction, and track the cost from the start. Ask your attorney whether your contract has a work-through-dispute clause, since those can limit your options. Pricing the work early helps protect your right to payment.

Sources

• Construction Contract Notice Letters (Long International, 2017)
• Contract Changes, Construction Contracting (Virginia Tech)
• Change Directives v. Change Requests v. Change Orders (Gaille Energy Law)
• Subcontractor Contract & Collections Handbook (NECA)
• Contract Notice Requirements (Smith Currie)
• 48 CFR 52.236-2, Differing Site Conditions
• Sample Letters for Construction Notices (Long International)
• Change Order Procedures (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, 2024)
• Change Orders, Construction Manual (Caltrans)
• Washington court enforces notice provision (AGC of Washington)
• Court of Appeals of Washington Applies Strict Adherence (Davis Wright Tremaine)
• Construction Change Management: Common Pitfalls

Recommended

• Change Orders: Same Hour Notices Help Subcontractors Avoid Delays
• Change Order Documentation: Subcontractors’ Same Day Field Checklist
• Subcontractors: Protect Margins With 48 Hour Change Order Management
• Protect Margin With a Six Stage Change Order Workflow for Subcontractors