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Variation orders (VOs)

Any change to the contract scope — added or omitted work. Capture it when it happens, not when you invoice.

A variation order (VO) records a change to the original contract scope. It's either additional work that adds cost, or omitted work that reduces it. VOs are how the contract sum legitimately moves from the figure you signed at award.

Raising one​

  1. From the project, open New VO.
  2. Enter a title and a description of the change.
  3. Enter the cost change: positive for an addition, negative for an omission.
  4. Add supporting notes or justification.
  5. Save — the VO is PENDING.

Lifecycle​

DRAFT → PENDING → APPROVED / REJECTED

Approved VOs add to the contract sum shown on the project detail page; pending ones show separately as "pending value". Only ADMIN, DIRECTOR or QS_MANAGER can approve a VO — as PM you raise and justify it.

The golden rule: capture it when it happens​

The variation you record the day the client asks for it is easy to get paid for. The one you try to reconstruct at the end of the job, from memory, is the one that gets argued down to nothing.

warning

Every instruction that changes scope is a potential VO. Capture it the moment it happens — ideally with a capture entry and, if it started as a question, a linked RFI. Paper beats memory.