Add a change order to the schedule

Change orders are used when a new work, alteration, or extension emerges. There are two types of change orders:

• Commitment change order – Commitment change orders represent changes in the agreed cost and/or the timeline for the work covered by the scope of the contract. Contractors use commitment change orders if their deliverables would cost more than the committed cost or could extend the proposed timeline. Useful for budget amendments and schedule revisions.
• Contract change order– Contract change orders represent any addition to, alteration, or omission of planned work covered by the scope of the contract. These include work that is not covered in the scope of the contract, like deviations in plans and dimensions, changes in designs, materials, and more. There are two types of contract change orders:
  • Prime contract change order – Changes that affect the contract between the general contractor and the owner/developer. Typically prime contract change orders are initiated by the general contractor and approved by the owner.
  • Client contract change order - Changes that affect the contract between the subcontractor and the general contractor. Typically client contract change orders are initiated by the subcontractor and approved by the general contractor and/or the owner. 

The change orders undergo a series of processes and GC/owner approval, after which the GC adds it to the schedule for execution. See 'Change Orders - An Overview' to read more about the change orders.

In order to push the change work to the respective contractor(s), the GC needs to add the change work to the master schedule. A change order becomes eligible for addition to the schedule after selecting the contractor(s), obtaining owner approval, and closed. Once added to the schedule, you can directly assign to the chosen contractor(s).

To add a change order to the schedule

• Open the project schedule in grid view. If not already done,
  • Click the app launcher  , then select 'Schedule'
  • Click 'Planner' on the top and select 'Grid' on the left.
• Identify the top-level task next to which you want to add the change order.
• Right-click on the row, then choose 'Add' > 'Change Order.'  

The approved and completed change orders pertaining to the project are shown: 

• Select the change order to add to  the schedule by clicking its serial number
•  Click 'Add.'

• Click 'Yes' to confirm your action 

The CO is added as the next top-level task with the title of the CO as the task name. 

By default, subtasks with the task name as specified in the estimates from the contractors are added for the CO, with pre-assignment to the respective contractors. The estimated labor and the number of days are automatically fetched from the estimate tendered by the contractors. 

The assigned subtasks are pushed to the subcontractors once you publish them. They can access them on their contractor schedule. On the contractor schedule, the pushed item is added as a parent-level task. The line items on their submitted estimate automatically add as sub-tasks to the parent item.

The project budget gets auto-updated with the cost of the change work. You can view the list of change orders added to the budget with their details in the 'Finance' > 'Budget' > 'Change Order' screen. See View Budget Updates for more details.