How Early Owner Decisions Help Prevent Change Orders

A change order is a formal, written modification to a construction contract that affects the project’s scope, cost, schedule, or a combination of the three. Change orders arise for many reasons, including drawing errors, incomplete information, unforeseen conditions, material shortages, and substitutions. Yet one of the most avoidable causes begins much earlier: unresolved owner priorities and preferences.

A project might satisfy code and technical requirements while still missing the owner’s expectations for appearance, performance, budget, or operations.  Changing owner preferences after the designs are complete and construction contracts are signed is perhaps the most costly revisions that can be encountered. Once contracts are signed and construction begins, implementing those changes affects many trades, procurement, inspections, and the schedule. Early and firm owner decisions give the project team a clear basis for resolving tradeoffs before work reaches the field. In turn, they help reduce avoidable change orders tied to late aesthetic revisions, unclear performance goals, and competing priorities.

Why Early Alignment Matters

Early planning creates a shared understanding of what the project must achieve and gives the project team more time to resolve conflicts before construction. A 2023 AIA Contract Documents analysis of 18,229 completed U.S. building projects found that most change orders occurred during the second half of the project. Average cost changes associated with change orders ranged from 3.2% to 5.04% of the total construction budget, depending on project value. These findings reinforce the importance of resolving owner priorities and preferences before late changes become more disruptive and expensive.

Define Owner Priorities Before Design Advances

Owners do not know every desired finish, fixture, or device selected at kickoff. However, the design team needs a clear hierarchy of priorities. Initial discussions should establish the budget, target opening date, operational requirements, system performance, sustainability goals, maintenance expectations, future flexibility, and aesthetic non-negotiables.

Owners should also identify acceptable areas of flexibility. For example, a finish selection remains open while the ceiling height stays fixed. In another example, diffuser style remains flexible while its location stays restricted. Clear priorities and early, controlled decision-making help architects and engineers resolve conflicts without reopening earlier decisions.

Key questions include:

1. Which features directly support the owner’s brand, operations, or user experience?
2. Which budget limits and schedule dates remain fixed?
3. Where are substitutions acceptable?
4. Who holds final approval?
5. At which milestone does each decision become final?

Visible MEP Details Need Early Review

MEP and fire protection systems affect the appearance of a space through diffusers, grilles, sprinkler heads, smoke detectors, fire alarm devices, outlets, thermostats, lighting controls, and access panels. Each item serves a technical purpose, but placement and finish also influence the architectural result.

Late relocation often requires revised routing, ceiling changes, patching, updated drawings, added coordination, and repeat inspections. During schematic design and design development, the owner, architect, and MEP team should review feature walls, open ceilings, decorative ceilings, millwork, lighting, signage, equipment clearances, and device locations. This review helps preserve architectural intent and avoids field decisions based only on available space.  These locations need to be locked-in early, and remain unchanged as the project moves into bidding and construction.  Constantly changing design criteria after the bid is perhaps the most costly of all change orders on a typical project.

Create Approval Milestones

Clear approval milestones keep design decisions moving and reduce informal revisions late in the process. First, name one single person with the final approval authority.  Multiple chiefs result in confusion and ever changing designs, costing the owner time and money.

Coordinate the schedule of the various consultant’s deliverables so that the final design can meet the owners intended schedule.  Lighting design, kitchen design, interior design and landscape design deadlines must be set earlier than the MEP/FP design deadlines because the MEP/FP design is depending on the results of the other design professional’s work.  Electrical circuiting cannot proceed until lighting design is finished.  MEP system designs cannot be complete without solid and unchanging kitchen plans.  The sequencing of the various design teams must be orchestrated so that the overall project schedule can be maintained. Next, schedule owner reviews during schematic design, design development, and before permit or bid issue. For each option, present the visual effect, cost, performance, and schedule impact. Then, record approvals and unresolved items in a decision log. After a milestone closes, route each new request through a formal impact review.  Design revisions that occur out of sequence will result in cost and schedule overruns.

For teams seeking a structured checkpoint, the Construction Industry Institute’s Project Definition Rating Index for Buildings provides an objective way to evaluate scope completeness and determine whether a project is ready to advance into design.

Use Technology to Make Decisions More Concrete

Two-dimensional plans remain essential construction documents, but spatial relationships are not equally clear to every stakeholder. Three-dimensional models, renderings, virtual walkthroughs, and mockups give owners a clearer view of ceiling heights, feature walls, device locations, and equipment access.

The National Institute of Building Sciences describes BIM as a shared knowledge resource that supports decisions throughout a facility’s life cycle. It also emphasizes collaboration among stakeholders who contribute and update project information during different phases.

For renovation work, point cloud scanning records accessible existing conditions and provides measurements for Revit or AutoCAD models. Full-color scans and panoramic images also support site review and existing-condition coordination. Better source information reduces assumptions about dimensions, available space, routing, and equipment clearances.

Reliable project information matters. Accurate existing-condition data and clearly defined owner priorities, performance requirements, budget limits, and coordination constraints give engineers a stronger basis for evaluating system layouts before construction.

AI-driven MEP design builds on those inputs. After the project team defines the design criteria, software evaluates routing and sizing options. Engineers review the results, coordinate across disciplines, and confirm alignment with the owner’s priorities. Technology accelerates the analysis, while the project team defines and validates the desired outcome. Learn more about Schnackel Engineers’ AI for MEP® technology.

Technology Supports Communication

Models, scans, and software make conflicts and tradeoffs easier to see, however they do not decide which priorities matter most. Direct conversations among the owner, architect, designers, engineer, and contractor remain essential.

An effective review is not a presentation where the owner reacts at the end. It is a structured discussion about budget, performance, appearance, operations, and risk. The tools improve the discussion by replacing assumptions with visual and measurable information.

Early Decisions Do Not Eliminate Every Change Order

Unexpected conditions, regulatory updates, supply disruptions, and legitimate scope changes still arise. The goal is not zero change. Instead, project teams should reduce avoidable changes caused by misaligned expectations, incomplete information, and late breaking changes.

Before design advances, owners should understand fixed priorities, flexible options, and approval responsibilities. Architects and engineers should translate those decisions into coordinated documents, visual reviews, and milestone approvals. This approach protects design intent, supports budget control, and reduces construction disruption.

For a broader look at cost risks across the design and construction process, read Cost Control: Reevaluating the Challenges That Derail AEC Budgets.

Schnackel Engineers works with owners, architects, and construction teams to align MEP/FP design with project performance, budget, schedule, and aesthetics. Contact Schnackel Engineers to discuss early coordination for your next project.