Change orders

1. Add a change order (Owner or GC)

1. Open the project and choose the Change Orders tab, then choose Add Change Order.

2. Choose the Reason for the change: Owner request, Field condition, Design change, Error or omission, or Other. Say more in the Description.

3. Choose the contract it changes. The Owner's change orders always change the contract between the Owner and the GC. A GC chooses between carrying the change to the Owner and absorbing it inside the GC's own contract.

4. Give it a Title. The title is how the change order reads in lists. If the change moves the schedule, give its Schedule impact (days) as a whole number, 0 or more; it is optional.

5. Fill in Line 1. Under This line, choose Change an existing line and pick the Scope line this changes, or choose Add a new line and give its Trade. Then give the Quantity, the Unit and the Amount. A deduction is a minus sign on the amount, beside a positive quantity.

Under each line's amount, Cost breakdown (optional) splits the amount into Labor, Material, Equipment, Subcontract and Markup. Leave every part empty, or make the parts add up to the line's amount to the cent; the form says so beside the line if they do not.

6. To change another line or add another, choose Add another line. Each line has its own What changes on this line; left blank, the title is used. Remove this line takes a line off before you submit. The Total of the lines is shown under them.

7. Choose Submit. The person who must answer is told.

2. What a line may name

• On most projects a changed line is one the GC performs itself. A change to a line a Sub performs is priced by that Sub, and that is not open yet.
• A new line added by a change order is performed by the GC itself. Its amount must be greater than 0: a deduction is made on the line it changes.
• The same scope line can be named only once on a change order. Put the whole change to that line on one line.
• Where one company holds both the Owner and the GC seats, a change order changes lines a Sub already performs, all for one Sub, and no new line can be added by a change order.
• On a project that is Closed or Cancelled, a change order cannot be added, edited or approved, and those buttons are not shown. A pending change order there can still be withdrawn by whoever added it, or rejected by whoever must answer it.
• A deduction cannot take a line below what is already paid or approved for payment on it.

3. Edit or withdraw a change order you added

While a change order is Pending, the person who added it sees Edit and Withdraw on its row. Nobody else does.

Edit opens the form on the change order as it is now. Change the reason, the title, the description or any line, and choose Save changes. The contract it changes stays as it was: to change that, withdraw it and add a new one. The person who must answer is told it changed, and the earlier version stays on the record.

Withdraw asks for a Reason and says what happens. Choose Withdraw change order. It stays on the record as Withdrawn, with your reason, and it can no longer be approved. To make the change later, add a new change order.

4. Approve or reject a change order

Only the party the change order is agreed with sees Approve and Reject. A change the Owner adds is answered by the GC. A change the GC carries to the Owner is answered by the Owner. A change the GC absorbs is approved by the GC.

Approve opens a dialog that says what the change does before anything is approved: how much it adds to or removes from the contract, and the contract total now and after approval. The Owner also reads the added funding this change will need once its new lines are locked, and how much funding the project already needs. Any schedule impact the change order states is shown too. Choose Approve change order to approve it, or Cancel to leave it pending.

If the change order was edited after you opened the dialog, approving is refused with This change order was edited after you opened it. Review the new version. The list reloads; open Approve again to read the new version.

Reject asks for a Reason and is final. Nothing is added to the scope. Whoever added it can add a new change order.

5. After approval: lock each new line

Approving adds one new scope line for every line of the change order, at the agreed price, unlocked. A changed line's new line sits under the line it changes.

Each new line is locked as a separate step by the party whose contract it changes, and it can be billed only once it is locked. For a change order with one line, choose Lock line on its row. For a change order with several lines, open it and choose Lock line beside each line.

Locking a line that changes the Owner and GC contract raises what the project must be funded to. The Owner funds the difference on the Funding tab.

6. Reading a change order

• No. is the change order's number on its project.
• Under the title: its reason, and how many lines it has.
• Contract: whose contract it changes. A Sub does not see this.
• Amount: while Pending or Rejected, the amount requested, marked as not approved; once Approved, the amount of the lines it added.
• Status: Pending, Approved, Rejected or Withdrawn. Choose a row, or its title, to open it in full with every line, its schedule impact and each line's cost breakdown.
• The Owner sees the change order amount; the breakdown is shown to the companies it belongs to. A Sub, a lender and VisiPay support never read a breakdown.
• Search and the status filter narrow the list once it is long.