The $127K Change Order That Vanished in Our Email

"Just Send Me the Approval Email"

Those six words started a 47-day nightmare that nearly ended our 22-year-old construction business.

It was supposed to be a routine hospital renovation. The client wanted additional work – upgrading the entire HVAC system in the east wing. My project manager Jim got verbal approval in a Tuesday morning meeting. The client said they'd send the written approval "by end of day."

We'd done dozens of change orders with this client. Never had an issue. So when Jim said we had approval, we started the work. $127,000 worth of work.

The Email That Never Existed

Six weeks later, we submitted our invoice. That's when everything fell apart.

"What change order? We never approved any HVAC upgrades."

My stomach dropped. Jim swore he had the email. He remembered reading it. He even remembered forwarding it to our purchasing team.

But it wasn't in his inbox. It wasn't in his sent folder. It wasn't in his deleted items.

It was just... gone.

47 Days in Email Hell

What followed was 47 days of pure desperation:

• Searching through 14,000+ emails across 6 different accounts
• IT consultant billing us $150/hour to recover "deleted" emails
• Combing through phone records to prove the meeting happened
• Lawyers drafting demand letters at $400/hour

Our purchasing team had the equipment orders. Our crew had the timesheets. We had photos of the completed work. But without that approval email, we had nothing.

The $200,000 Lifeline

While we fought for our money, we still had to make payroll. Still had to pay our suppliers. Still had to keep the business running.

I'll never forget sitting in the bank, signing for a $200,000 line of credit at 12% interest, just to keep the doors open. Twenty-two years building this business, and one missing email had us borrowing money to survive.

The Email Finally Surfaced

On day 47, our IT consultant found it. The email had been archived by an overzealous spam filter update. The client had CC'd multiple people, and our email system flagged it as potential spam, auto-archiving it to a folder nobody knew existed.

We got paid. Eventually. After threatening litigation and agreeing to a 10% discount just to end the nightmare.

Never Again

That experience changed everything. We realized email wasn't just inefficient – it was dangerous. One software update, one accidental deletion, one corrupted inbox, and critical project documentation could vanish.

Today, we use a proper documentation system. Every change order, every approval, every important communication is tracked, timestamped, and backed up. Multiple team members have access. Nothing can just "disappear."