Just realized the 30% rule for change orders isn't what my old boss said it was

Blair Lewis · 2026-10-28T23:45:06.064522+00:00

I spent 4 years thinking you should never let change orders get past 10% of the contract value, because that's what the super on my first job told me every single morning meeting. Then last week I sat in a class at the AGC chapter in Dallas and the teacher pulled up a study from a big research firm showing projects that ran 20 to 30% in changes actually had fewer delays than ones that stayed under 10, because the low ones were just hiding scope. I almost argued with him in front of 40 guys. Now I'm going back through our last 6 jobs at the office and half of our cleanest looking numbers came from us eating work instead of writing it up. How are you all handling change order caps on your jobs, is a hard percentage even a real thing or did I just work for a stubborn guy?

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Just realized the 30% rule for change orders isn't what my old boss said it was | Construction Management - Rigidtalk