You're juggling urgent change orders from multiple clients. How can you effectively prioritize them?

An approach is to jointly evaluate the change orders in respect of the possible impact on the project scope, cost and quality to be sure that both parties are making informed decision that is worthy than the initailly established scope.

One thing i have found helpful when assessing impacts and effects of applying change at any stage of construction is to view each change in a perspective outside of your project, when investigating the ultimate effects of any change look at all construction processes,players ,cost and timelines to ensure before change is applied the end result will not affect previous planning.

Engage with all stakeholders, including clients, project managers, and team members, to understand their perspectives and priorities. Consider the risks associated with each change. Prioritize changes that mitigate risks or have lower associated risks.

In my experience work on its own has to be assessed before making a decision on client order of priority ,Let me break this down, for example you have two clients each with an urgent change order- one applied for change in the grade of concrete to be poured in 24hours and another applied for change in paint colour on a structure that was painted a week ago It is wise to prioritise client A because of the type of work change applied for and client B also deserves to be prioritised by the nature of their request as compared to client A might not need the highest priority.

One thing i find helpful during project inception is to carefully understand clauses that deal with business risk.Such risk identified as financial risk in this case revolves mainly on Change Management and how change orders are handled.It is wise to have relaxed clauses that benefit both parties and terms that ensures such orders are handled in a manner that does not stain your reputation and ones that does not strain client-contractor relationship.

I have learnt that in every project setup player across any organisation come together to form a project team.In most cases employees can have 2/3 projects they are part at any time.The need to allocate permanent project members solely mandated to one project at all critical positions in the project makes it easier to allocate all types of resources in their specific priority standing at all times.

Evaluate each change order based on its impact on the project’s timeline. Address changes that need immediate action to prevent delays or comply with regulations first. This approach ensures that critical changes are prioritized, maintaining the project’s momentum and avoiding costly interruptions.

Ensure clear and transparent communication with both your team and clients about the prioritization of change orders. Explain the rationale behind your decisions to build trust and prevent misunderstandings. Open lines of communication help manage expectations and demonstrate professional handling of urgent requests.