Not every customer request looks like a contract change.

Sometimes it looks like teamwork.
Sometimes it looks like responsiveness.
Sometimes it looks like being a good contractor.

And sometimes, it becomes unpaid work.

In this episode of The GovCon Show, Tim Magnusson breaks down one of the most common ways government contractors lose margin: informal customer direction that turns into unpriced work.

A quick email.
An extra meeting.
One more data pull.
A revised report format.
A little added support “until the modification catches up.”

Individually, these requests may look harmless. But under fixed-price work, performance-based contracts, or poorly controlled execution environments, small informal requests can stack into real cost, schedule, subcontract, and margin problems.

The issue is not that contractors should stop supporting their customers. That would be stupid. The issue is that “support the customer” cannot mean “perform first and figure out the contract later.”

This episode explains why customer direction must be recognized, reviewed, documented, priced, and controlled before helpfulness turns into margin leakage. Tim walks through change-recognition triggers, authority issues, subcontractor impacts, documentation failures, and the difference between being responsive and being commercially reckless.

The hard truth: a happy customer is not the same thing as a healthy contract.

If your team cannot tell the difference between customer service and changed work, you do not have customer intimacy. You have a margin leak with a good attitude.

Run the Fixed-Price Conversion Risk Assessment at GovConAdvisoryGroup.com.

Not every customer request looks like a contract change.

Sometimes it looks like teamwork.
Sometimes it looks like responsiveness.
Sometimes it looks like being a good contractor.

And sometimes, it becomes unpaid work.

In this episode of The GovCon Show, Tim Magnusson breaks down one of the most common ways government contractors lose margin: informal customer direction that turns into unpriced work.

A quick email.
An extra meeting.
One more data pull.
A revised report format.
A little added support “until the modification catches up.”

Individually, these requests may look harmless. But under fixed-price work, performance-based contracts, or poorly controlled execution environments, small informal requests can stack into real cost, schedule, subcontract, and margin problems.

The issue is not that contractors should stop supporting their customers. That would be stupid. The issue is that “support the customer” cannot mean “perform first and figure out the contract later.”

This episode explains why customer direction must be recognized, reviewed, documented, priced, and controlled before helpfulness turns into margin leakage. Tim walks through change-recognition triggers, authority issues, subcontractor impacts, documentation failures, and the difference between being responsive and being commercially reckless.

The hard truth: a happy customer is not the same thing as a healthy contract.

If your team cannot tell the difference between customer service and changed work, you do not have customer intimacy. You have a margin leak with a good attitude.

Run the Fixed-Price Conversion Risk Assessment at GovConAdvisoryGroup.com.