A change to a made-to-order LED strip order costs more at each stage the order has passed, and the kind of change decides what is lost. A CCT swap tends to strand built reels, a length change cut pieces, a finish change finished channel. Ledrise’s terms step fees up by stage.
The reflected ceiling plan is reissued on a Tuesday. The strip order was released on Monday. By Wednesday somebody has to say whose cost the new CCT is, and nobody has a number, because nobody asked the supplier which stage the order had reached.
Four Stages, and What Each Has Spent
Most made-to-order work moves through drawing approval, scheduling, building and shipping, and each maker draws the fee lines in different places. The table puts published terms from other lighting makers beside each stage. None of them is LED strip supply on our scale, none is our terms. Ours are short: once an order is confirmed it is not changed, and when a customer asks for a change anyway, part of the cost is the customer’s. How much depends on how far the order has gone, and we quote it for that change.
| Stage | What has been spent | What other makers’ terms show |
|---|---|---|
| Drawing in design | Engineering time | Ledrise lets a custom module’s specification change “during the Design Draft process” and recalculates the order value if the change adds cost. KURTZON: “Prices are subject to re-negotiation if any quantity, option, accessory or other condition is changed from original quotation” |
| Approved or released, not yet built | Scheduling and material commitments | Ledrise charges 15% to cancel after the design draft and 25% after the datasheet. KURTZON’s terms apply a restocking charge to catalog fixtures “if fixture production has started or material commitments have been made”, and require payment for work already performed, including “Engineering design time for any fixtures that are modified or are of a custom nature” |
| In production | Built material | Ledrise: once the datasheet or samples are approved and mass production starts, “the order cannot be canceled. Custom-made LED products cannot be returned.” Zigaflow’s editorial guide for lighting designers says restocking fees of “30 to 50% are common” on made-to-order products |
| Shipped | Freight and the finished product | SuperLightingLED’s purchase guarantees: “A custom build cannot be resold, so it only comes back for a quality fault.” |
Two more points matter on a schedule. BIOS Lighting’s terms say “Changes or modifications to the order may require a revision to the quote,” so a change can reprice an order before any cancellation is discussed. And on time, our ordering FAQ puts standard CCT and CRI combinations at 1 to 2 weeks and custom builds at roughly two to three weeks more, with the ship date confirmed in writing on the quote. If the new spec is a custom build, that difference comes on top of whatever is lost.
A Typical Change, Stage by Stage
Take a typical hotel renovation, not a named one: a twelve-floor tower, a corridor cove on every floor, the strip ordered by floor as twelve lines. The designer revises the corridors from 3000K to 4000K. What that costs depends on where each line sits.
| Where the floor’s line is | What the revision means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Floors 10 to 12, not released | The drawing changes; nothing physical is lost | Revise the release before it goes |
| Floors 7 to 9, released, not built | The supplier has committed schedule and perhaps material | Send the change request now; the answer prices the stage |
| Floors 4 to 6, in production | Reels are being built in the old CCT | Ask what is stranded and whether the old reels fit another line |
| Floors 1 to 3, shipped | Reels are on site in the old CCT | Decide whether to install, set aside as spares, or ask the supplier whether anything can go back |
Four lines, four different costs for one revision. That is why the first thing to learn is the stage of each line, and why an order split by floor gives a clearer answer per line than one pile.
Three Changes, Three Different Cuts
The same revision hits different material depending on what moved. This table is our reading of how a strip is built, not a supplier statement.
| Change | What it strands | Why | What to ask |
|---|---|---|---|
| CCT, for example 3000K to 4000K | Reels already built in the old CCT | A fixed-CCT reel’s CCT is set by the LEDs mounted on it; only a tunable, dim-to-warm or color-changing build can be re-set by the control | Which lines are built, and can the old CCT go to another line |
| Length | Pieces already cut | A finished piece with leads and end caps is built to its drawn length; extending it means rejoining, which adds joints, and a shorter piece leaves an offcut | Which piece types the cut schedule touches |
| Finish, for example channel color or cover | Anything already finished in the old finish | A new finish means a different finished channel, so lengths already finished in the old one are stranded | Which channel lengths are finished and which are raw |
The length case shows why the order’s structure matters. A cut schedule by piece type, as in the cut schedule guide, lets a revision touch one piece type or add a new type, with a revision letter on the schedule. An order placed as a pile of reels does not tell anyone which pieces a revision affects. Our custom assemblies are built from an assembly drawing you approve, and a revised drawing should go back for approval, which is where a change should start.
What Stays Reusable
Stranded does not always mean wasted. Reels built in the old CCT can sometimes go to a line that still wants it: a back-of-house corridor, a stair, a service area, or another floor that keeps the original scheme. A stranded reel in the right CCT can serve as a spare if its lot or bin matches the installed run, which is the point of keeping spares from the same lot; our maintenance plan guide sets out the register. A change request should therefore ask the supplier what is stranded and what could be reassigned, and the project team should check its own drawings for the reassignment before treating the reels as a loss.
When the Revision Was Yours
Not every late change comes from the designer. A release can drift from the approved submittal, for example a wrong CCT can reach the order form, or a model can be discontinued and replaced. Our submittal guide says that when the product changes after approval, because a model is discontinued or a CCT is unavailable, the change is submitted as a new revision and not swapped on site. The cheapest fix is the one made before release: compare the release, line by line, with the approved submittal and the run schedule.
How a Change Moves Up the Chain
A change arrives from the owner or the architect, and it passes through the general contractor and the subcontractor to the supplier. Each link needs a cost and a time, not only a request. Zigaflow’s guide, written for lighting designers, recommends “treating every post-order specification change as a written change request with a costed response,” starting work only on the client’s written approval, and costing the programme impact in the notice, including temporary lighting and liquidated damages where they apply. Lighting New York’s guide, written by a lighting dealer mostly for homeowners’ projects, adds that the direct costs are the easy part: “Every change order creates a ripple effect throughout the project,” with the operational impact “much harder to quantify.”
For the supplier’s part, our project supply page says every release is tied to the approved drawing and spec revision, and that when a drawing changes you get a list of what changes and what has already shipped. That list is the input a change request needs. Under our terms a confirmed order is not changed, and a change the customer still asks for carries part of the cost; the amount is quoted for that change, and no number appears on the page. Who pays is set by the contracts on each link, which this article does not read.
A Change Request That Gets a Real Answer
A request a supplier can price names seven things:
- The drawing revision, and the revision it replaces.
- The lines affected, by room or run.
- What changes, from and to: CCT, length, finish.
- What has shipped or been built, as the supplier last reported it.
- The delivery date the job now needs.
- Who approves the change on your side, in writing.
- What you need back: the cost, the new ship date and what is stranded.
In practice it reads like this: “Revision [C] replaces [B]. Floors [4 to 9], corridor cove, [3000K] to [4000K], lengths unchanged. As of your last report floors [1 to 3] have shipped and [4 to 6] are in production. Needed by [date]. Approved in writing by [name]. Please return the cost, the new ship dates and what is stranded.” Treat the reply as the change order’s price. Zigaflow’s advice, about custom finishes and bespoke lengths, is to assume you cannot cancel “without full write-off cost until the manufacturer tells you otherwise in writing.”
Keep the Next One Cheap
None of this removes the change. It moves the change earlier, to the stage where the cost is lowest.
- Freeze the CCT in a mock-up. The mock-up approval guide sets out the checks, and the approved sample becomes the reference: our ordering FAQ says it is kept for later batches.
- Release in two stages. The construction schedule guide separates the rough-in and trim releases, so a late cover or strip decision holds only the trim release, while a channel finish decision holds the rough-in.
- Order by piece type. A change then touches a type, not the pile.
- Get ship dates in writing. Zigaflow says a verbal lead time “is not sufficient for a project programme,” and ours is confirmed in writing on the quote.
- Watch the clock on held orders. BIOS Lighting requotes orders held longer than three months from the quote; KURTZON’s “Hold for Release” orders hold pricing for 60 days. A job held past a supplier’s window can be repriced without any change to the drawing.
Before You Order
Ask these six questions before the next release, and keep the answers with the quote:
- At which stage does a change start to cost something, and how is each stage priced? A supplier with stage names can answer this in one line.
- Is the ship date confirmed in writing, and does a change reset it? A date that resets silently is a schedule risk.
- What is built at release: reels, or pieces to the cut schedule? The answer decides what a length change strands.
- Can a change be made to one room or line without touching the rest? This is the case for ordering by room.
- What happens to built material that fits another line? Reassignment is the cheapest recovery.
- How long is a held order priced? A hold past the window is a repricing.
A good answer names a stage, a cost rule and a date, and arrives in writing. A vague one (“we will see what we can do”) is a signal to release in smaller pieces.
Send the reflected ceiling plan and the room schedule with your request a quote, and ask for those six answers with it.
