Record a verbal instruction for the record
A verbal instruction costs you nothing you can prove. Log the call while it is fresh, confirm it back in writing, and if it moved the scope start the change record before you build it.
How it works, step by step
3 steps across the platform - what you do at each one, and why it matters.
Log the call
Phone logStraight after the call, log it, who rang, when, and exactly what was said or instructed, in their words rather than your paraphrase. Do it while you still remember the detail.
Why: A fortnight on, nobody agrees what was said on the phone. A dated log written the same hour is the difference between a fact and your word against theirs.
Confirm it in writing
CorrespondenceSend a short confirmation-of-verbal-instruction note back to whoever gave it, setting out what you understood and that you are acting on it unless told otherwise. File it against the project.
Why: A verbal instruction only binds once it is put in writing and left unchallenged. The confirmation note turns a corridor conversation into an instruction you can rely on and, later, be paid for.
Start the change record if scope moved
Change ordersIf the instruction added to or changed the scope, raise the change order now, before the work is done, so the extra is captured against an agreed reason and the clock starts on your entitlement.
Why: Work done first and papered afterwards is the work that never gets paid. Starting the change record before you act is what keeps a verbal instruction from turning into free scope.