When Demo Reveals More Than the Report Said: How Change Orders Work on a Restoration Project

Every restoration proposal is built on a report — an engineer's assessment, a handful of core samples, a set of probe openings in the stucco or concrete. That report is the best available picture of what's wrong with a building before any wall comes open. It is not, and was never meant to be, a guarantee of what the crew will actually find once demolition starts.

Boards that have been through a restoration project before know the moment: the contractor calls with news that the demo exposed more corrosion, more water damage, or more deteriorated substrate than the original scope accounted for. The next sentence is almost always "we need to talk about a change order." Handled well, that conversation is routine. Handled poorly, it's the single biggest source of budget blowouts and board distrust on a restoration job.

Why the Report Rarely Tells the Whole Story

An engineer's pre-construction report is based on sampling, not full exposure. A handful of core bores and probe openings tell you what's happening at those specific points — they can't tell you with certainty what's happening three feet to the left, especially in coastal Florida buildings where rebar corrosion and water intrusion don't travel in straight lines. Chlorides track along rebar mats. Water follows gravity and cracks, not the grid the engineer happened to sample.

That's not a failure of the engineer or a sign the report was wrong. It's the nature of destructive versus non-destructive testing: you only know the true extent of hidden deterioration once the concealed surface is opened up. On most restoration projects, some amount of additional scope once demo starts isn't a red flag — it's expected. The question for a board isn't whether a change order will happen. It's whether the contractor handling it is documenting it honestly and pricing it fairly.

What a Legitimate Change Order Looks Like

Before a board approves anything, a change order request should include:

• Photo documentation of the concealed condition — the corroded rebar, the rotted substrate, the water staining behind the original surface — taken before any repair covers it back up.
• A clear tie-back to the original scope: what was assumed or excluded in the base contract, and why the newly exposed condition falls outside that assumption.
• Unit pricing consistent with the base bid. If the contract already has a price per square foot of concrete repair or per linear foot of sealant joint, the change order should use that same pricing — not a new number negotiated under time pressure.
• A timeline impact statement, if the added scope affects the schedule, so the board isn't surprised by a completion-date slip on top of a cost increase.

If a change order shows up without photos, without a reference to the original contract's pricing, or demands a decision before the board has time to review it, that's worth slowing down for — not because every unsupported change order is dishonest, but because a board shouldn't be asked to approve cost without the backup that makes it verifiable.

Negotiating Before You Sign — Not After

The best time to shape how change orders get handled is before the base contract is signed, not after the first one shows up. Boards should ask their contractor, up front:

• Will unit pricing from the base bid carry over to change orders automatically, or does each one get re-priced?
• Who signs off on a concealed condition before repair work covers it — the engineer of record, the board's representative, or both?
• What's the notification window — does the board get 24 hours' notice before a decision is needed, or is it an on-the-spot call?
• Is there a not-to-exceed cap on change orders without a return to the full board for approval?

Getting these answers in writing in the base contract turns a stressful mid-project phone call into a known, pre-agreed process. It also protects the contractor, who shouldn't have to choose between stopping work and waiting days for a board vote, or proceeding without authorization and hoping for reimbursement later.

Budgeting for the Reality, Not the Report

A board that wants to avoid sticker shock should build a contingency line into the project budget from the start — typically 10-15% of the base contract on an older coastal building, less on a newer one with limited exposure history. That contingency isn't an admission that the engineer's report was inadequate. It's an acknowledgment that restoration work, by its nature, confirms the full extent of damage only as the building is opened up. A board that's budgeted for that reality treats a well-documented change order as a line item they planned for, not an emergency assessment they didn't.

At McLeod's, every concealed condition gets photographed before it's touched, every change order ties back to the pricing already in the contract, and nothing proceeds past the point of no return without the board or its engineer signing off first. That's what 30+ years of restoration work on SWFL condos, HOAs, and commercial buildings has taught us about getting it right the first time — Your Project. Our Passion.

If your board is heading into a restoration project and wants a contract structure that handles change orders fairly from day one, reach out to our team or review our completed projects to see how we document and price scope changes on real SWFL buildings.