You're Giving Away $15K/Year in Free Work — Here's How to Stop

Let me describe a Tuesday afternoon you already know.

You're replacing a bathroom vanity. Straightforward job — you quoted it, the homeowner signed off, materials are on site. Then you pull the old vanity off the wall and find rotten subfloor underneath. Moisture damage, probably from a slow leak that's been going for years.

You can't just put the new vanity on a rotten floor. So you fix it. An hour of demo, new subfloor, maybe some joist repair. You mention it to the homeowner: "Found some rot, had to fix it before I could install." They nod. You move on.

Three weeks later, you're doing the final invoice. That extra hour of work? The $200 in materials? You don't even remember it. Or you remember but think, "It wasn't that much, not worth the awkward conversation."

You just gave away $350 in free work.

This Isn't a Revenue Problem. It's a Capture Problem.

You don't need more jobs. You don't need to raise your prices. You need to stop giving away the work you're already doing.

The money is there. It's just leaking out through four cracks:

Crack #1: Scope Creep Nobody Tracks

The homeowner asks for an extra outlet in the kitchen. You add it — takes 30 minutes, maybe $40 in parts. No big deal. Except it happens three times a week. That's $10K+ a year in "no big deal."

Crack #2: Discovery Work That Doesn't Get Billed

Rotten wood, bad wiring, code violations from the last contractor. You find problems that weren't in the scope. You fix them because you can't leave them. You don't bill for them because it felt like part of the job.

Crack #3: The "While You're Here" Trap

"While you're here, could you also look at this faucet?" "Can you move this outlet six inches to the left?" Each one is small. Together they're a second job you're doing for free.

Crack #4: Verbal Approvals That Vanish

The homeowner said yes on-site. You did the work. At invoice time, they don't remember agreeing. Now you're either eating the cost or having an uncomfortable argument. Neither is great for business.

The Real Numbers

Let's be conservative. Say you miss just 3 small extras per week:

And that's conservative. Some contractors we've talked to estimate they miss 5-8 extras per week, with some worth $500+.

Why It Keeps Happening (It's Not Laziness)

You already know you should track change orders. So why don't you? Because the current process is broken:

1. You're in the middle of work. You're on your knees under a sink. You're not going to stop, pull out a laptop, and fill out a form.
2. The moment passes. By end of day, you've dealt with 15 other things. That extra work is a vague memory.
3. The paper trail doesn't exist. You mentioned it to the homeowner. They nodded. Nobody wrote anything down.
4. It feels petty. Billing $80 for something that took 20 minutes feels awkward. So you eat it.

The problem isn't you. The problem is that the only tool for capturing change orders requires you to stop working. And that's never going to happen on a job site.

What If Capturing Extras Took 30 Seconds?

Here's the scenario with ChargeHammer:

Compare that to the alternative:

The Homeowner Side (This Matters More Than You Think)

Here's what contractors miss: homeowners want transparency too.

When a homeowner gets a surprise line item on the final invoice, they feel ambushed. Even if the work was legitimate, the lack of real-time communication creates distrust.

But when they get a change order in the moment — with photos, a clear description of what was found, and a simple approval button — they feel informed. They feel respected. They approve it because it makes sense.

This isn't about squeezing more money out of clients. It's about documenting reality as it happens so nobody gets surprised.

The "I'm Too Small for This" Objection

Every time I talk to a contractor about change order management, someone says: "That's for big companies with project managers. I'm just a plumber."

Wrong. The big companies already have systems for this. They have PMs who track every scope change. They bill for every bolt.

It's the small contractors who bleed the most. You're the one who says "don't worry about it" because you don't want to lose the client. You're the one doing $50K in extras per year that never hits an invoice.

You don't need a project manager. You need a way to capture extras without stopping work. That's all this is.

What It Costs You To Do Nothing

Let's say you read this article and think, "Yeah, I should track this better." And then tomorrow you're back under a sink and it's the same as always.

Here's what that costs over the next 5 years:

That's a truck. That's a down payment on a shop. That's retirement money. And it's walking out the door every week because nobody wrote it down.

The Bottom Line

You're already doing the work. You're already earning the money. You're just not collecting all of it.

The fix isn't working harder. It isn't raising prices. It isn't buying expensive software your crew won't use.

The fix is a 30-second voice note every time you find extra work. That's it. One sentence describing what you found, what it'll cost, and the system handles the rest.

Your skills put money on the table. ChargeHammer makes sure it stays there.