Vendors
Price and approve a vendor scope change before doing it
Editorial team · Reviewed
A small request can change labor, equipment, travel or timing even when the material cost looks minor. Record the requested outcome and the impact before it quietly becomes an obligation.
A practical sequence
- Compare the request with the accepted deliverables and exclusions.
- Describe any change in quantity, staffing, equipment, access or schedule.
- Quote the impact and identify who can approve it.
- Keep the original scope and the approved revision linked.
Work through an example
The couple asks to move ceremony flowers to the reception. The flowers already exist, but the move needs people, transport, access and time. The florist describes those requirements and obtains approval rather than assuming the transfer is free or operationally possible.
Where judgement matters
A friendly text is not always an unambiguous approval. Ask the authorized decision maker to confirm the specific revision, amount and timing. Do not overwrite the accepted scope so thoroughly that nobody can explain how it changed.
Make it usable
Open the working tool and replace its sample assumptions with your own. Adapt the structured template to record the resulting decisions and handoffs. Review the finished version with the person responsible before it becomes an instruction to someone else.
Work the decision
A practice case
An original fictional scenario. Numbers are illustrative inputs; this is not a customer result or a provider performance claim.
A client asks a florist to add six reception arrangements after approving twelve. The request also changes preparation, vehicle space and installation time. A photograph in a message thread can inspire the change, but it cannot establish the revised quantity, price or responsibility for removing the original design.
| Decision | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Write the requested difference from accepted scope. | Before-and-after quantities prevent the original and revised instructions being combined accidentally. |
| Ask each affected owner for their impact. | Materials, crew, access and strike may change even when the client sees only a design adjustment. |
| Record approval before committing the new work. | A draft estimate should not silently become an instruction to purchase or charge. |
Make one usable artifact
Draft a change request with old scope, proposed scope, cost impact, timing impact, exclusions and the person authorized to accept it.
Then test the difficult case
The client approves the design but asks for the original price. Keep the request unresolved until the commercial and operational terms are both clear.
Use the linked tool or structured template below to record the result. Confirm it against the actual people, agreements and permissions before using it for an event.