Authority
The person standing in front of you is not always the one paying.
A husband tells you to go ahead and his wife disputes it. A tenant asks you to fix something the landlord has never heard about. A site supervisor says yes to a change his office would never have approved. The approval was real, the work got done, and now the person holding the checkbook is being asked to pay for a decision they did not make. This is one of the most common ways a properly documented change order still ends in a fight.
Direct answer
Establish who can approve extra work at the quote stage, not mid-job. Ask one question when the work is agreed: if something comes up that costs more, who do I need a yes from? Then get your approvals from that person, in writing, even if someone else is standing on site.
01Workflow
Sorting it out before it matters
- 1
At quote time, ask who approves additional costs, and get their contact details.
- 2
Write the answer into the quote so it is part of what everyone agreed to.
- 3
When a request comes from someone else on site, treat it as a request, not an approval.
- 4
Send the price to the person you identified, and wait for their reply.
- 5
If the on-site person insists it cannot wait, put the situation itself in writing before you proceed.
02Practical notes
What matters in the field.
Two owners, one yes.
In a household with two decision makers, the one who is home during the day is frequently not the one who reviews the invoice. The fix is not choosing a side, it is copying both: send the price to both parties, or send it to the one who was not there and let the reply come from them. It takes no longer and removes the entire class of dispute.
Tenants can request, landlords pay.
A tenant asking for extra work is asking for something they cannot authorize on a rental property. Doing it because they seemed sure is how contractors end up billing someone who never agreed to anything. The approval has to come from whoever is paying, and if you are unsure who that is, that is the question to ask before the tools come out.
On commercial jobs, authority has limits and they are usually written down.
A field supervisor may be able to approve a small item and not a large one. Company purchase authority thresholds are common and rarely mentioned to the trades on site. Asking who signs and up to what amount is a normal question in commercial work, and asking it in advance prevents an approval that later turns out not to count.
The problem is authority, not honesty.
Almost nobody in these situations is trying to trick you. The tenant genuinely wants it fixed. The spouse genuinely thought it was fine. The supervisor genuinely wanted the job to move. Each of them said yes to something they did not have standing to buy, and the cost lands on you unless you asked first.
One question at the quote solves most of it.
If something extra comes up, who do I need a yes from? Customers answer it instantly and without any awkwardness, because at quote time it is a logistics question rather than a suspicion. Mid-job, the same question sounds like you are doubting the person in front of you.
03Checklist
Establishing authority
The approving party identified at quote time, by name
Their phone or email captured, not just assumed
The answer written into the quote itself
On-site requests from others treated as requests, not approvals
Approvals sent to and returned from the identified person
Any exception documented in writing at the moment you make it
Example
The question and what follows
At quote: 'If something comes up that costs more than we've talked about, who do I need to check with? Just so I'm not holding things up.'
Mid-job, request from someone else: 'Happy to do it - let me send the price over to Dana since she's handling the budget, and I'll get going as soon as she gives me the nod.'
If it truly cannot wait: 'Proceeding with the shutoff repair now on your say-so to stop the leak. Sending the cost to Dana in the same message so everyone has it.'
04FAQ
Common questions.
Isn't it insulting to ask who has authority?
Not at quote time, when it reads as organisation rather than doubt. Framing it around not wanting to hold up the job makes it entirely routine. The version that stings is asking mid-job, in front of the person whose authority you are questioning.
The tenant is paying me directly. Is that fine?
Then the tenant is your customer for that work, and the agreement is with them. Where it goes wrong is doing tenant-requested work and then invoicing the owner, or doing work that affects the property without the owner's knowledge. Be clear in writing about who is buying what.
What if I already did work approved by the wrong person?
Go to the paying party quickly, before the invoice does. Explain what was asked for, by whom, and what it cost, and offer a way forward. Discovering it on an invoice makes people defensive. Hearing it directly from you, with the request documented, usually does not.
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.
Related guides
Change order with signature: what to capture before extra work starts.
When a contractor needs a signed change order, what to include, when to collect the signature, and how to keep a clean approval record.
Extra work approval text: wording to send before continuing.
Copy-ready wording contractors can send when a customer asks for extra work while the job is already underway.
Contractor change order template for small extra work.
A practical contractor change order template for extra work, added cost, customer approval, and invoice handoff.