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
Keep changes, site confirmations and claims apart
Record the event on the day it happens, then route it to the right instrument: an instructed change that gets priced, a site confirmation signed on site and priced later, or a claim that needs notice and evidence.
How it works, step by step
5 steps across the platform - what you do at each one, and why it matters.
1
Write it down on the day, before it is worth anything
Daily DiaryRecord the event in the daily diary the day it happens: what was found or instructed, where, who was on site, what plant and labour were affected, with photographs attached.
Why: The record made before anybody knows what it is worth is the one nobody can argue with, and it is the same record whichever of the three instruments the event turns into. A diary written up at the end of the month is a reconstruction, and everybody reading it can tell.
InWhat happened on sitePhotographs from the dayOutDated diary entryWho was present
2
Raise the instructed change and price it
Change OrdersWhere the work was instructed, raise a change order, state the reason it arose, and price its lines against the contract's rates. Name the instruction and the day it was diarised in the reason, so the record points back at itself.
Why: An instructed change is the cheapest of the three to settle because the authority for it is not in dispute. What is in dispute a year later is the reason it arose and the rate it was priced at, so both belong on the record now, while the person who knows them is still on the job.
InThe instructionContract ratesOutPriced change orderReason on the record
3
Register the site confirmation while it is still unpriced
VariationsWhere the work was done on site without a priced instruction, register it as a daywork sheet with the quantities as executed and the date the work was done. Record who signed it on site and the reference the signed paper carries, and hold the sheet at draft or disputed until the value is agreed.
Why: A site confirmation is signed on the day exactly so that the pricing conversation can happen afterwards without reopening the facts. If it sits in a folder unregistered until settlement, the facts get reopened anyway and the signature stops helping. A register makes the open ones countable, which is the only way anybody chases them.
InThe day's recordQuantities as doneOutSite confirmation on the registerPriced later, tracked meanwhile
4
Build the claim on evidence, not on recollection
Claims EvidenceWhere the event is at the other party's risk, open a claim and gather the evidence against it: the diary entries, the photographs, the labour and plant that stood, and the clause you are relying on.
Why: A claim is judged on its evidence and on whether the notice was given in time, and both are decided months before anybody starts writing the submission. Assembling the pack as it happens shows you what is missing while it is still gettable, which is a different exercise from assembling it at the end and discovering what is not.
InDiary, photographs, recordsThe clause relied onOutEvidence pack per claimMissing evidence, visible early
5
Give notice in writing, inside the contract's period
CorrespondenceIssue the notice as correspondence, dated, naming the event and the clause, and keep every later letter on the same matter in the same thread.
Why: Most claims that fail do not fail on the merits, they fail on a notice period that ran out while the matter was being discussed verbally. A dated letter costs nothing and is the only thing that answers the question of when the other party first knew.
InThe event and its dateThe contract's notice periodOutNotice issued and datedOne thread per matter