The total looked reasonable

Anyone who bills change orders knows this. A proper check means every daily record, every invoice and every formula, and it's due today. So the check stops at the total, and if that looks reasonable, it goes.

One case on our Try page: a force account summary and a change order proposal, ready for the owner. Yesper tied every line to the signed daily records and payroll, and checked the estimate cell by cell. Weekend work was billed at straight time, $15,688.11 short. In the estimate, blank unit costs and double-counted loader hours nearly cancelled: the total was only $172 off.

The shortfall turns up before the summary goes out instead of at closeout, and the estimate holds when the owner opens the spreadsheet. Same for the rest of the Try page: a final pay application, claims from site diaries, change orders nobody raised.

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