How to get an extra approved in writing — before you do the work
The customer says “yeah, go ahead”. Here’s how to turn that into a written yes in a couple of minutes, without making it awkward.
· 5 min read
Most extras are agreed standing up. Across a half-stripped kitchen, on a doorstep, over the noise of a saw. The customer asks “while you’re here, can you just…”, you give a rough price, they say “yeah, go ahead”, and you both get on with your day.
That yes feels like enough. It usually is — right up until the invoice lands and it turns into “I don’t remember agreeing to that”.
Why a spoken yes isn’t enough
Nobody has to be dishonest for an extra to go wrong. Memories drift. The price you said and the price they heard aren’t always the same number, and one of you was thinking with VAT and the other without. Sometimes the person who said yes isn’t the person paying. Three weeks later, all you have is your word against theirs — and you still have to finish the job with them.
Getting it in writing isn’t about distrust. It’s about both of you remembering the same thing.
The routine
It takes a couple of minutes, and it works best done the same way every time.
- Stop before you start. The moment to get the yes is before the extra work begins, while you’re both looking at it — not at the end of the job.
- Say what the extra is in one line. “Move the radiator to the window wall” beats “radiator stuff”.
- Put a price on it, and be clear about VAT. “€680 plus VAT at 13.5% — €771.80 in total” leaves nothing to interpret. Check with your accountant which rate applies to your work.
- Take a photo or two. Of what you found, or of what they’re pointing at. A photo settles a “that’s not what I meant” faster than any description.
- Send it in writing and ask for a clear yes. A text or a WhatsApp is fine. Ask them to reply “approved” — a thumbs-up emoji is easy to argue about later.
- Keep it with the job. Not scattered through a chat thread or lost in a camera roll of four thousand photos.
How to make it feel normal, not awkward
The awkward part is asking for money face to face. Writing it down takes that away: you’re not negotiating, you’re confirming. A line like “I’ll just send that over so we’re both clear on it” is hard for anyone to object to.
Do it for every extra, including the small ones and the ones for customers you know well. When it’s routine, it never reads as a judgement on the customer — it’s just how you work.
Doing it with a template, or with Variation Vault
If you want the wording ready to go, the free approval template has the exact message to send and worked examples in € and £.
Variation Vault does the whole routine in one screen on your phone: photos, price and VAT in, a link out by text, WhatsApp or email, and the customer taps Approve in their browser. Their answer is saved to the job with the date and time, and you can pull a proof pack PDF whenever you need it. You can see exactly what the customer sees before you try it.
This is practical guidance from how trades handle extras day to day, not legal advice. A written approval makes an extra much harder to dispute, but no record can guarantee payment.
