Cancellations
The parts are in your truck and the job just got cancelled.
They approved the extra work on Tuesday. You made the supply run Wednesday morning. Wednesday afternoon they changed their mind. Now you are holding parts you bought for one specific job, possibly cut to size, possibly special ordered, and the person who asked for them has moved on. Whether you eat that cost usually comes down to something you said before you drove to the supply house, or did not.
Direct answer
Say what happens to materials at the moment of approval, not after the cancellation. One line does it: once parts are picked up, that portion is non-refundable. Customers accept this readily in advance and resist it entirely after the fact, and the difference is timing rather than fairness.
01Workflow
Protecting the materials cost
- 1
Include a materials line in the approval message, separate from labor.
- 2
Add one sentence about what happens if the work is cancelled after purchase.
- 3
Delay the supply run until the approval actually comes back, whenever you can.
- 4
Keep receipts attached to the job, not loose in the truck.
- 5
If it is cancelled, tell them the number the same day rather than putting it on a later invoice.
02Practical notes
What matters in the field.
Special order is a different category, and customers do not know that.
Stock fittings go back. A cut-to-size counter, a made-to-order window, or a specific finish ordered in does not, and customers genuinely do not realise which is which. Saying it out loud at approval time - 'this one's a special order so it can't go back once I place it' - is information they will accept, not a condition they will argue with.
Restocking fees are real and they are yours to absorb otherwise.
Many suppliers charge to take stock back, and some will not take back anything opened or cut. That fee is a real cost of the cancelled request. If your approval message never mentioned materials as its own item, you have no clean way to bill it and it comes straight out of your margin.
Delay the purchase if you can afford the extra trip.
The cheapest protection is not buying yet. When the schedule allows, wait for the written yes before the supply run. When it does not - because you are already at the supply house or the job is tomorrow - that is exactly the moment the materials line in the approval matters most.
Say the number the same day.
A cancellation cost that appears on an invoice three weeks later reads as a penalty someone invented. The same cost stated on the day of the cancellation reads as a fact: I picked these up this morning, here is the receipt, here is what the supplier will take back. Customers argue with penalties, not with receipts.
Sometimes eating it is the right call, and it should be a choice.
For a long-standing customer and a small amount, absorbing the cost and saying so can be worth more than the money. What is not worth it is absorbing the cost silently, so the customer never learns that cancelling after purchase costs someone something.
03Checklist
In the approval message
Materials shown as a separate figure from labor
A line stating materials are non-refundable once picked up
Special orders flagged specifically as non-returnable
Purchase held until written approval arrives, where possible
Receipts attached to the job record
Any cancellation cost raised the same day, with the receipt
Example
The line that prevents the argument
Approval message: 'Sill plate repair is $340 - $210 labor and $130 materials. Once I pick the lumber up that materials portion is non-refundable, so just confirm before I make the run.'
If cancelled: 'No problem at all. I'd already picked up the lumber this morning - receipt attached, $130. The supplier won't take cut stock back.'
If absorbing it: 'Don't worry about the materials on this one, I'll use them on another job. Just letting you know so you're aware for next time.'
04FAQ
Common questions.
Can I charge for materials if I never mentioned them separately?
You can ask, and many customers will pay when shown a receipt. What you lose is the ability to point at something they already agreed to, which turns a straightforward charge into a negotiation. That is the entire argument for splitting labor and materials in the approval message every time.
What if the parts are usable on another job?
Then say so and do not charge for them. Billing a customer for stock you will use next week is the kind of thing that ends a relationship over a small amount. Charge for what you genuinely cannot recover: restocking fees, cut material, and special orders.
Should I take a deposit to cover materials on bigger changes?
For substantial or special-order work, that is common practice and easier to ask for than a cancellation charge afterwards. Framed as covering the order rather than securing the job, most customers find it entirely reasonable.
See what the approval record looks like.
Open the sample PDF first, then download SiteTicket AI if this is close to how you handle added work, customer approval, and invoice backup.
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