Commercial & contracts
Turn a change into a paid variation
Capture a scope change while it is fresh, price it as a contract variation on your agreed r…
3 steps11 minOpen
Cases / Commercial & contracts
Commercial & contracts
Compare the tender bill against the settlement
Set the awarded bill beside the settlement bill, get every line that moved classified as added, removed, quantity changed or rate changed, pair each movement against the instruction that caused it, and agree the list in writing.
How it works, step by step
5 steps across the platform - what you do at each one, and why it matters.
1
File both bills before you touch either
DocumentsSave the contract bill as awarded and the settlement bill as submitted into the project files, dated, with the covering letter that came with each.
Why: A settlement review is read months later by somebody who was not there, and the first question is always which two documents were compared. Filing them takes a minute now and removes an argument that otherwise has no evidence on either side.
InBill as awardedSettlement bill as submittedOutBoth versions on record
2
Bring both bills in with their codes intact
BOQLoad each bill so both live in the project side by side, and check that the item codes came across on both. If one side lost its codes in transit, fix that before comparing rather than after.
Why: The item code is what makes a line the same line on both sides. With codes, a contractor who inserted twelve items and renumbered everything below them still produces a readable comparison. Without them, the match falls back to position number and the report tells you almost nothing.
InThe two filed billsOutTwo bills in the projectItem codes preserved
3
Run the line-by-line comparison
BOQOpen the comparison on the awarded bill and pick the settlement bill as the other side. Every line comes back classified as added, removed, quantity changed, rate changed or unchanged, with the old and new quantity, rate and total, and the difference rebased into the project's currency.
Why: This is the part of a settlement review that consumes the days and produces none of the judgement. Getting it in one pass leaves your attention for the lines that are actually contentious, and it catches the quiet ones - a rate that moved by a few percent on a very large quantity - that eyes reading a printout do not.
InAwarded bill and settlement billOutEvery line classifiedThe difference in one currency
4
Pair every movement with the instruction that caused it
Change OrdersWork down the moved lines with the change order register open beside them, and mark which instruction each movement answers to. The list that is left over - movements with no instruction behind them - is your query list.
Why: The comparison tells you what moved and the register tells you what was instructed; pairing them is judgement and stays yours. Doing it while the classified list is in front of you is what turns a settlement review into a short, specific set of questions instead of a general objection nobody can answer.
InThe lines that movedChange order registerOutMovements matched to instructionsMovements with nothing behind them
5
Put the queries in writing and track the answers
CorrespondenceIssue the query list as correspondence, item by item with the amount at stake on each, and record the answer against the query rather than in somebody's inbox.
Why: A settlement is agreed line by line or it is not agreed at all. Queries raised in writing get answered; queries raised in a meeting get remembered differently by each side, and the difference surfaces at the worst possible moment, when the final figure is being signed.
InQuery list with amountsOutQueries issued and trackedAgreed position on each line