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Variations

Changes to the contract after the win: raising, pricing, approval.

Variations

What it is

The Variation Register: every change to the contract after it was won, numbered, with what changed, why, who delivers it, what it costs, its status and what it holds at risk. The estimate freezes the moment a job is marked won, so a variation is the one way cost changes after that: one the client pays for, or one you absorb. Only an approved variation moves the contract sum and the schedule of values. The project manager raises them; the client approves them, in the portal or in writing.

Before you start

  • The Variations module is on (Settings → Team Modules).
  • The job is won. Before that, change the estimate.
  • Approving a variation needs the Approve variations permission and an approval limit that covers its value.

How to

Raise a variation from a sentence

Press Describe it. A chat thread opens; describe what changed. Base prices it from your rate book, splits labour, materials and subcontractor, sets who supplies it, and shows you the variation before anything is saved.

Raise a variation from the form

  1. Press Raise Variation (an RFI closed as Variation opens this form prefilled).
  2. Enter the Title, Description, Reason (Client Change, Latent Condition, Drawing Discrepancy, Scope Omission, Landlord Requirement, Other) and the Linked Scope Section.
  3. Under Cost Breakdown, enter Labour Cost, Materials Cost and Subcontractor Cost (ex GST), who it is Delivered by (subcontractor, builder, client or in house; it decides the paperwork: a purchase order to a sub, a purchase order for what you buy, or hours on your own timesheets) and the Margin % (defaults to 15). Total (incl. margin) calculates as you type.
  4. Set the Status and, on a variation not yet approved, Work done (%): how much of the varied work is built. Save.

Put it to the client and record the decision

  1. Change the status on the row to Submitted. A variation submitted more than seven days ago without a decision is flagged.
  2. When the client agrees, set Approved. Base adds the variation to the schedule of values and the budget and marks the scope section as having an approved variation since its last review. A variation approved in the client portal shows PORTAL with the name and date, which is the record.
  3. Rejected records the decision; On Hold parks it. Absorbed means you wear it: an Absorbed Reason is required and the form opens to take it.

Prepare the variation document

The document icon on a row prepares the variation document for that variation to fill in, review and save as a PDF.

What happens on its own

  • The At risk column shows what each variation holds at risk and for how long: work done on an unapproved variation is cost with no revenue; an approved one not yet claimed is money not yet claimed. The band (Fresh, Watch, Chase, Escalate) is how long it has waited, set under Settings → Finance, cost control.
  • An approved variation can propose a matching variation on the affected purchase order, which a person approves.
  • The summary bar keeps Total Raised, Total Approved, Total Absorbed and the Approval Rate.
  • The assistant can raise and update variations from chat; the list refreshes and flashes what changed.

Things that surprise people

  • Only approved variations count toward the revised contract sum and your margin. A pending one changes nothing.
  • A variation with no Delivered by costs as subcontract, which is the safe default and often wrong. If your own crew is doing it, saying so is what puts the hours on their timesheets instead of inventing a subbie commitment.
  • Un-approving a variation that a progress claim has already drawn on is refused. The claim has to be dealt with first.
  • Variations are the one thing that may be added to a locked schedule of values. That is deliberate; it is what stops the contract value and the claimable schedule drifting apart.
  • Raising one at the time is a conversation. Raising it at the end is an argument.