Change orders need a decision record

Site reality moves faster than paperwork

A subcontractor discovers an unexpected condition or receives an instruction that changes scope. The immediate conversation may happen on site, but photographs, quantities, labour impact, and pricing are assembled later. By the time an approval is requested, different people may remember the instruction differently.

The risk comes from separating the evidence from the decision. An email with a price may not show the original condition. A message saying proceed may not identify the revision or limit of work being authorised.

Give every change one durable record

A focused first version could assign a number to each change request and hold the description, location, photographs, drawing references, cost impact, schedule impact, and current revision. The authorised reviewer sees the same package and records approved, rejected, or revise and resubmit. Every decision includes a person, time, and version.

• Keep field evidence attached to the request it supports.
• Show revision differences instead of overwriting the previous amount.
• Make authority and decision state explicit before work proceeds.

Fit the contract, not a generic template

Change-notice periods, approval authority, required backup, and terminology differ between projects and contracts. The first version should reflect the company’s actual procedure and avoid presenting a digital click as legal approval unless the surrounding agreement supports it. Integrations with estimating and accounting can follow later. The initial value is a shared, exportable record that makes it easier to establish what changed, what it costs, and what was decided.