When the Customer Changes Their Mind After Templating: A Diplomatic Playbook

It happens on every job: template's done, fabrication is scheduled, and the customer wants "just one small change." Here's how the best shops handle it.

Have a written change-order process

Email or in-app form, signed by the customer, with the cost and schedule impact spelled out. No verbal changes, ever.

Price changes generously

If a sink swap is $200 of real cost to you, charge $400. Half the time the customer will cancel and you save the work; the other half pays a fair markup for disrupting your schedule.

Be honest about timing

"This change pushes your install from Monday to Friday" lands much better than a quiet 4-day delay the customer discovers later.

Walk away from impossible asks

If the change requires re-templating and the customer won't pay for it, decline. A bad job that breeds a bad review costs more than a lost deposit.