How to Reduce Risk by Improving Change Order Communication | Ep. 130

Project changes increase risk, and create conflict. Dealing with change orders is a pain that subcontractors, contractors, and owners all share. The good news is that tools and technology are now in place to help reduce the risk and improve change order communication. 

In this week’s podcast episode, I interview Cameron Page, the CEO and founder of Extracker. He has construction industry experience, and so he understands the difficulties surrounding change orders. We discuss the underlying causes of the challenges with change orders and the primary people responsible for the change order conversation. We also talk about his journey to founding Extracker and what he envisions his company to be five to ten years from now. 

Those looking for solutions to improve change order communication in their construction companies will benefit from listening to this episode. Tune in to this today!

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Discussion Points:

0:00 Introduction

1:45 Cameron shares his construction journey 

4:08 Extracker and their focus 

5:15 Why are change orders seemingly unique in the construction industry

6:28 Why is the change order process so painful 

8:54 Factors that contribute to the friction and what contractors are doing about it 

10:39 Who is responsible for the change order conversation?

12:27 Most effective way for GC’s to communicate about changes

14:49 Cameron shares how he transitioned to CEO and founder of Extracker 

18:22 Why construction companies fail with technology implementation? 

20:37 What you can learn from client feedback and interacting with clients 

22:55 The biggest mistake Cameron made when he started Extracker 

24:55 Resisting the temptation to cater to other demands from clients 

26:30 Things Cameron recommends to do to make change order as smooth as possible

29:20 Where Cameron sees Extracker in the next five to ten years from now  

About the Guest: 

Cameron Page earned a Construction Management degree at Cal Poly SLO before working nearly ten years at one of the nation’s largest design-build GCs. Seeing the need for better Change Order communication, he hatched the idea for Extracker.

Resources: 

Restaurant mentioned in this episode: 

Connect with me on LinkedIn. For more podcast episodes, you may also visit my website. Tune in and subscribe to the Construction Genius: A Leadership Master-Class Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Stitcher.

Thank you for tuning in!