Keeping customers informed during a job

Agree an update schedule with the customer before the job starts. Each update should say what is finished, what happens next, what decisions you need, and when you will be in touch again. Report delays when you learn about them, and get written approval for extra scope, price and schedule changes before doing that work.

Agree an update schedule that fits the job

These are starting points to agree with the customer, not measured requirements.

Adjust the schedule to the customer’s access to the site, the job’s complexity and upcoming decisions. Agree the next contact date even when there is little to report. Send an earlier update when a delay, safety issue or approval need changes the plan.

What goes in a two-minute update

Include these four details:

1. What got done today. In their words, not yours. "Drain and supply lines are in the wall," not "roughed in the DWV."
2. What is next. Tomorrow, or the next day you will be on site.
3. Anything you need from them. A color choice, a gate code, a car moved by 7 a.m., a decision by Thursday.
4. When they will hear from you again. This tells them when to expect more information.

Example of an end-of-day update:

Good day today. Drain and water lines are in the wall and the inspector comes Thursday morning. Nothing needed from you until then — after the inspection I'll need your tile choice so I can order Friday. I'll text you Thursday once he signs off.

A photo can show work that is about to be covered by drywall. Take one even on days you write "nothing to report" — that is also your record of what went behind the wall.

The bad-news call: say it the day you know

The instinct is to wait until you have the fix. Resist it. Early notice gives the customer time to adjust their plans. If the replacement date is uncertain, say what you know and when you will confirm it.

Three rules make bad news land:

• Give the revised date or your next confirmation time. "A few more days" is not information. "Now finishing Tuesday instead of Friday" is.
• Call, do not text, when there is a decision or a dollar figure in it. Follow the call with a text so the decision is written down — include the scope, price and schedule impact in a written change for approval, using the signature process your contract and local rules require.
• Explain the problem before discussing payment. Keep the requested decision and any amount due clear.

For a schedule slip:

The vanity shipped short a part and the supplier's next truck is Monday. That pushes finish from Friday to Tuesday. Everything else stays on plan, and the bathroom is usable over the weekend. Anything on your end I should work around?

For a concealed condition with a price attached:

I opened the wall under the sink and the sheathing is soft — water damage, probably a few years old. I can't tile over it. Replacing it is about half a day, so at my rate that's roughly $400 with material. I've stopped there and taken photos. I'll send you the change order this afternoon, and I won't start until you've signed it.

Put the extra work, price and schedule impact in writing and obtain approval before doing it. For covered California home-improvement work, CSLB requires a written change order signed by customer and contractor before the change. Rules and consequences differ elsewhere; confirm the required contents and signature process with your state licensing board or a local construction attorney.

Keep a record of updates and approvals

Every channel works while the job is running. They differ in what you can produce afterward.

A price discussed only by phone or in person can be remembered differently later. Confirm the written scope, price and schedule impact and retain the customer’s approval.

When you decide and when you ask

Agree which routine decisions you can make within the written scope. Ask the customer about choices that affect their agreed result, and involve the relevant qualified professional for technical decisions outside your authority.

Bring it to them if it changes cost, the completion date, or something they will look at every day. That covers a fixture location, a visible finish, a tile layout, a slip in the schedule, any extra work.

Decide it yourself if it is method inside the scope you already agreed: fastener type, the order you work rooms in, which supply house you buy from, whether the circuit runs left or right inside the wall. That is what they hired.

For a priced change, you can prepare an extra-work quote in DoneQuote. Describe the work and add relevant photos; the AI drafts lines using your catalog. Review the scope, quantities and prices, add the schedule impact and required terms, and send it for customer approval before starting. Transfer the approved amount to your separate billing records when you invoice.

Keep the update record with the job

Save the messages, photos and approved changes in your job records. At closeout, compare the finished work and any amounts billed with that record rather than reconstructing phone conversations.