(“As Needed,” “TBD,” “By Others,” and the Rest)
For affluent homeowners in Shreveport and Bossier City considering a design-build project, the biggest budget threat is usually not the obvious number at the bottom of the proposal. It is the language inside the bid that quietly leaves scope unresolved.
Louisiana law requires home improvement agreements that need licensure or registration to include the complete agreement, a clear description of incorporated documents, a description of the work to be performed, and the amount to be paid or, for cost-plus or time-and-materials work, an approximation of the owner’s expected cost. In other words, the contract is supposed to describe the job clearly. When the bid still relies on vague phrases, the owner is exposed because unclear scope is exactly where later price adjustments tend to grow.
In standard design-build contract language, a change order is a written change to scope, cost, or contract time. That matters because every blurry phrase in the original bid increases the odds that later work will be treated as “outside the original scope,” which is how many expensive surprises become formal change orders. ConsensusDocs also makes a related point: if owner and design-builder disagree about whether work is already included, the dispute gets priced, documented, and negotiated. That is exactly why affluent homeowners should read vague language as a warning sign, not harmless shorthand.
Below are seven phrases that should make you slow down before you sign.
1. “As Needed”
This sounds practical. It is not.
“As needed” usually means the quantity, trigger, or standard has not been defined. Maybe it refers to framing repairs, floor leveling, waterproofing adjustments, electrical updates, or insulation corrections. The problem is that the phrase does not tell you what condition triggers the work, how much work is included, or what standard the contractor will use to decide when more money is required.
In a high-end remodel, “as needed” can quietly shift decision-making power from the contract to the field. Once demolition starts, the homeowner is often under pressure to approve added cost quickly so the schedule does not slip. That is how a vague clause turns into a premium-priced decision made at the worst possible moment.
A better version is precise:
“Include up to 120 square feet of subfloor replacement at kitchen and breakfast area where moisture damage is confirmed. Additional replacement beyond this quantity to be priced at $X per square foot.”
That language defines quantity, location, and pricing logic before emotions get involved.
2. “TBD” or “To Be Determined”
“TBD” is one of the clearest indicators that the design and pricing are not aligned yet.
Sometimes that is acceptable early in preconstruction. It is not acceptable when it remains in a contract that is being used to authorize construction spending. “TBD” may apply to appliances, plumbing fixtures, specialty lighting, structural steel details, cabinet interiors, trim profiles, or exterior finish interfaces. On a luxury project, each unresolved item has ripple effects. A “TBD” window package changes framing, flashing, trim, lead time, and final paint scope. A “TBD” plumbing fixture can change valve requirements, rough-in labor, finish cost, and installation time.
In design-build, the goal is to reduce these open loops before signing. Standard design-build forms treat contract documents, scope, and later changes as formal, written matters for a reason. Unresolved items are not small clerical gaps. They are future negotiating events.
If you see “TBD,” ask for one of three fixes before signing:
remove it by making the selection, replace it with a clearly priced allowance tied to a defined quality level, or state exactly who bears the risk if the final decision costs more than assumed.
3. “By Others”
“By others” is one of the most dangerous phrases in residential remodeling because it creates interface gaps.
The phrase may be used honestly. A pool contractor may truly be outside the house remodel. A separate AV integrator may really be handling low-voltage systems. But too often, “by others” is used without defining who those others are, when they perform, how they coordinate, and who repairs adjacent finishes if their work disturbs completed areas.
That is where affluent homeowners get hit twice. First, they pay one party who excludes the work. Then they pay a second party who charges a premium because the work now has to fit around an active project or a partially completed home. In many cases, no one has included supervision, sequencing, protection, warranty boundaries, or patch-and-paint responsibility.
ConsensusDocs specifically recognizes “others” as owner’s other contractors, suppliers, or separate parties. That is a helpful reminder: once “others” enter the picture, coordination risk increases unless the contract clearly allocates it.
A better clause would say:
“Audio/visual system by owner’s separate vendor. Design-builder to provide conduit rough-in per attached AV drawing set dated X. AV vendor responsible for cabling, device install, programming, and trim-out. Design-builder responsible only for drywall patching directly caused by its own work.”
That is how you stop overlap from becoming a billing dispute.
4. “Allowance”
Allowance language is not automatically bad. Undefined allowance language is.
NARI advises homeowners to build realistic budgets that include construction costs, design fees, permits, and an allowance for surprises, plus a contingency of roughly 10–20% for the unknowns that emerge during remodeling. That advice is sensible. But homeowners should not confuse a smart project contingency with a lazy bid allowance. A project contingency is money you hold because older homes can reveal surprises. An allowance is a placeholder number inside the contract for a specific item or category.
The danger is when the allowance is not tied to a true quality level, scope boundary, or installation assumption.
For example:
“Tile allowance: $8,000.”
That looks neat but tells you almost nothing. Does it include demolition prep, waterproofing, crack isolation, intricate layout, specialty trim, stone fabrication, delivery, waste factor, niche detailing, heated floor interfaces, and labor for larger-format material? If not, the homeowner may believe the category is covered when only part of it is.
A better allowance states:
- what product class is assumed
- what labor and prep are included
- what quantity is assumed
- what happens if selections exceed the allowance
- whether builder fee or markup applies to the overage
Without that detail, “allowance” is often just a polite way of delaying the real number.
5. “Per Plan” or “Per Drawing”
This phrase sounds safe because it points to documents. But it is only safe if the drawings are complete, coordinated, and detailed enough to price correctly.
If the plan set lacks finish details, transition details, reflected ceiling information, appliance specifications, cabinet internals, waterproofing notes, window flashing requirements, site drainage instructions, or MEP coordination, then “per plan” does not solve ambiguity. It simply relocates ambiguity into the drawings.
AIA guidance emphasizes that owners should require disciplined documentation and review of proposed change orders, because small scope shifts can erode contingency bit by bit. That principle applies here too: when a bid says “per plan,” the owner still has to ask whether the plan actually defines the work to a level that can be priced cleanly.
The higher the finish level, the less safe this phrase becomes on its own. In luxury remodeling, details matter. Flush base, integrated lighting, custom vent hoods, stone slab returns, concealed door hardware, and specialty plaster conditions do not price themselves from vague plan notes.
6. “Owner to Select Later”
This is a cousin of “TBD,” but it carries a slightly different risk: it tells you the selection process has been pushed beyond the pricing phase.
That often creates three problems.
First, the labor may be priced on a generic assumption while the final selection demands more skill, more time, or different installation materials.
Second, late selections can impact schedule. ConsensusDocs treats schedule and owner approvals as part of the contract framework for a reason. If a decision is required from the owner and the documents do not define the deadlines, the project becomes vulnerable to delay arguments.
Third, the owner loses leverage. Before signing, you can negotiate pricing logic. After signing and during construction, your bargaining position is weaker because your kitchen, primary bath, or exterior envelope may already be partially opened.
For affluent homeowners, the solution is not simply “make all selections immediately.” It is to identify which selections must be finalized before pricing, which can remain allowances, and which have hard deadlines tied to procurement and schedule.
7. “Excluded” Without a Matching Inclusion Map
Exclusions are normal. Unmapped exclusions are expensive.
Any honest bid should state what is not included. The trouble starts when exclusions are not paired with a mirror-image explanation of who is covering that responsibility instead. If the bid excludes permits, engineering, asbestos testing, landscaping restoration, temporary kitchen setup, dust protection upgrades, generator reconnection, specialty hardware, or finish touch-ups after owner-vendor work, the homeowner needs an explicit answer to one question:
Who owns this scope, exactly?
Louisiana’s home improvement contract requirements reinforce this common-sense principle: the contract should identify the agreement and describe the work. If major categories are merely excluded without a coordinated plan for coverage, the owner is left with a document that is legally written but practically incomplete.
A strong design-build team will not just hand you a list of exclusions. They will help you build a complete scope map so excluded work does not become floating work.
What Affluent Homeowners in Shreveport and Bossier City Should Do Before Signing
Do not ask only, “Is this price fair?” Ask, “How many future pricing events are still hiding in this proposal?”
A careful pre-signing review should identify every place where the bid leaves room for scope reinterpretation. That means hunting for vague phrases, unresolved selections, weak allowances, undefined exclusions, and coordination gaps between trades, vendors, consultants, and owner-furnished items.
A smart rule is this: if a phrase could reasonably cause two intelligent people to picture different scopes, it is not ready for contract use.
That does not mean demanding impossible perfection. Remodeling always carries uncertainty, especially in existing homes. NARI’s contingency guidance exists because unknown conditions are real. AIA’s change-order process guidance exists because changes do happen. But there is a major difference between a true concealed condition and a preventable ambiguity written into the bid from day one.
Final Takeaway
In luxury remodeling, change orders are not always a sign of bad faith. Many are simply the financial outcome of language that was never specific enough to begin with.
The phrases to watch most closely are:
“as needed,” “TBD,” “by others,” “allowance,” “per plan,” “owner to select later,” and broad “excluded” clauses.
If those phrases appear in your bid, do not treat them as harmless industry shorthand. Treat them as signals that scope, responsibility, pricing, or schedule still need to be nailed down.
For affluent homeowners, the right design-build partner is not just the one with the best presentation or the most attractive bottom-line estimate. It is the one willing to replace vague language with contract-ready clarity before the first wall is opened.