Change Order Generator (Construction & Projects)

About the Change Order Generator (Construction & Projects)

A change order (also called a variation order or change request) records a change to the agreed scope and gets it priced and approved before the work starts. Describe the change and why it is needed — a client request, a design change, a site condition — list the drawings, BOQ items and specification clauses it affects, and build the cost from labour, materials, equipment, subcontract and other lines, with credits for work omitted, overhead and profit percentages and tax. Add the time impact in days, and the change order shows the contract sum and the completion date before and after it, with signature blocks for the owner, the contractor and the engineer.

Every change order goes into the register, numbered CO-001, CO-002 … with its status: approved, pending, rejected or withdrawn. The register adds up each group, keeps the running contract value of the approved changes in number order and moves the completion date by their days. Presets set the cost categories, reasons and party names for construction, interior fit-out, IT projects and consulting. The free preview shows each change order and the register as marked page images with the totals hidden; a Premium pass unlocks the clean PDFs and the Excel register.

Common uses

• Contractors pricing extra work and omissions for an owner’s approval.
• Owners, architects and project managers keeping track of approved and pending changes against the contract sum.
• Interior designers and fit-out firms issuing variation orders to clients.
• IT suppliers and consultants raising change requests against a fixed-price project.

How a change order is priced

• Line amount = quantity × rate, or the lump sum you type; a credit (omitted work) counts negative. Every amount is rounded to the currency’s smallest unit.
• Direct cost = the sum of the lines, also shown by category.
• Overhead = direct cost × overhead %. Profit = (direct cost + overhead) × profit %.
• Subtotal = direct cost + overhead + profit; tax = subtotal × tax %; the change-order total = subtotal + tax.
• A change that is a net credit is passed on at cost unless you tick markup on credits, which takes overhead and profit off it as well — use whatever your contract says.

The register, the contract sum and the completion date

Change orders are listed in number order. Only approved ones change the contract: the contract value after each approved change order is the original contract sum plus the approved totals up to it, and the revised completion date is the original date plus their days. Pending change orders are added up separately, with the sum and the date you would reach if they are approved; rejected and withdrawn ones are counted but change nothing. Each change order’s document shows the net change of the approved ones before it, its own amount and the contract sum with it, so every signed copy tells the whole story.

Presets: construction, fit-out, IT projects and consulting

• Construction: labour, materials, plant and equipment, subcontract; owner, contractor and engineer or architect; reasons such as unforeseen site conditions and authority requirements.
• Interior fit-out: materials and finishes; furniture, fixtures and equipment; electrical, plumbing and HVAC; titled variation order.
• IT projects: effort in person-days, software and licences, hardware, third-party services; titled change request, between client and supplier.
• Consulting: professional fees, expenses and subconsultants.

The title (change order, variation order or change request), the categories and the reasons follow the preset; you can change the title and every line.

Contracts based on CPWD conditions

Under clause 12 of the CPWD General Conditions of Contract the engineer-in-charge may alter, add, omit or substitute work, and the changed work is done on the same conditions and at the same rates as the main work, except as the clause provides. For an extra item the contractor may claim a rate, with its analysis, within fifteen days of the order; for quantities beyond the limits in Schedule F the rates may be revised on market rates. The time for completion is extended, on request, in the proportion that the additional cost bears to the tendered value, plus 25% of that time (clause 12.1). Tick CPWD clause 12.1 on the Project tab and enter the tendered value and the stipulated period: each change order then shows the days the clause gives for its cost before tax, which you can use as its time impact.

Good practice

• Get the change order signed before the work starts: a change done on a verbal instruction is the most common source of disputes over final bills.
• Refer to the exact drawing revision, BOQ item or clause, and keep the reason factual.
• Price omissions as credits on the same change order as what replaces them, so the net effect is clear.
• Say whether the time impact is settled (“full and final”) or reserved; leaving it unsaid invites a later claim.
• Number change orders once and never reuse a number, even for a rejected one.

Sources

• CPWD General Conditions of Contract — clause 12 (deviations, extra and substituted items, and the extension of time for additional cost in clause 12.1)

Your contract’s own variation clause decides how changes are ordered, valued and paid.

Limitations

• Amounts are worked out from the lines and percentages you enter; the tool does not check market rates or your contract’s rules for valuing changes.
• One tax rate applies to a whole change order. Split a change into two change orders when its parts carry different rates.
• Days are calendar days added to the completion date; working-day calendars and partial overlaps between changes are not modelled.
• Signatures are blank blocks for signing on paper or with your own e-signature service.
• Your project is kept in this browser on this device: download a backup to move it or keep it safe.

Privacy

The project and its change orders are kept in this browser’s storage on your device and never sent to MySmartCoPilot or anyone else. The PDFs and the workbook are made on your device; a backup leaves it only when you download it.