Close a Change Order

The general contractor has the authority to close and approve a change order. However, the project manager should get consent from the owner/developer prior to their approval and finalization.  

Once the bids are finalized and closed, as explained on the previous page Review and accept/reject bids, you can add any additional costs, like our management fees, to derive the final cost of the change work. After getting consent from the owner through any out-of-band communication means, you can approve the change order on behalf of the owner. 

Add additional fees

You can add any fees and additional expenses to the cost of the change order to arrive at the final coat. This is optional. Each cost item you include should be indicated with the respective cost code for cost tracking. 

• Open the project management portal.
• Click 'Change Order' on the top
• Click 'Boards' on the left
• Click the change order you want to open
• Click the 'Final Cost' tab.

The list shows the accepted bids with their schedule and cost impacts.

Cost Code- The cost code of the change order work. The change order estimate is added to the project budget only if the appropriate cost code is assigned. Usually, the cost code is the division code/category code of the work as per the task code at your company level. 

• Click inside the field and enter the cost code for each item.

Additional Fee - Add any further expenses, like commission, management fee, etc.

• Click 'Add Fee' 

• Enter the details of the additional fee:
  • Percentage/Amount - Choose whether the fee is to be calculated as a percentage of the total amount or set as a fixed amount
  • Cost Code - Enter the cost/task code for the additional fee. The fee will be added to the project budget under the specified cost code.
  • Cost Type - Auto-populates from the cost code.
  • Value - Enter the percentage of the total value, or the fixed amount, depending on the choice made.
• Click 'Save Changes.' 
• Repeat the process to add fees under different accounting heads

The additional fee is added to the total cost of the change order.

Next step - Approve the change order:

There are two ways to approve and close the change order.

Approval with endorsements - DocuSign Enabled - If DocuSign is enabled for your account, circulate the change order to the stakeholders to digitally sign it as a mark of their acceptance and approval. You can view the signature status on the same screen under the 'Signature' tab. See Request Signatures for more details. Once all stakeholders complete the signing process, you can approve the change order on behalf of the owner. See Approve a Change order on behalf of the owner for more details. 

Approval without signatures - Once the final cost is arrived, get consent from the owner through any out-of-band communication method. You can approve or reject the change order on behalf of the owner from the same screen. See Approve a Change order on behalf of the owner for more details. 

Tip:

You can initiate or take part in a conversation to chat with the team members and the participants of the change order at any stage. Click the button on the top right. See Chat and collaborate on a CO for more guidance.