Change Orders by Constructable
Construction change order software for general contractors
Our construction change order software tracks every scope change from the first sign of exposure to a signed, billed change order. Price the subs' side and the owner's side together, add your contract markups automatically, and eSign without another tool. Change orders come with the Field, Project, and Financial Management plan, and we do flat pricing with unlimited users.
Change events
Log the change the day it happens, before anyone has a price
A change event holds one scope issue, with the cost to you and the revenue from the owner side by side. Create it as soon as the issue is real, and the exposure shows up on the list while you wait for pricing.
• What happened: a title, a description, attachments, and the date the issue happened
• Time as well as money: enter the schedule impact in business days, with notes on what slips
• Every event at a glance: each row shows prime revenue, budget impact, expenses, and days
Vendor and prime change orders
Price your subs' cost and the owner's change in the same place
Each change event has a panel for vendor change orders against your subcontracts and purchase orders, and one for prime change orders against the owner contract. Enter lines with a cost code, cost type, quantity, unit, unit price, and retention.
• No retyping for the owner: Copy all from Vendor Change Orders carries the vendor lines to a prime change order and adds your contract markups
• Unit pricing: enter quantity and unit price and the amount follows, or type a lump sum
• Before work stacks up: when you pick a vendor, you see a note if their subcontract isn't fully executed or they already have an unsigned change order
Change order markup
Markups that follow the contract you signed with the owner
Set overhead, insurance, profit, or general conditions once on the Prime Contract. Every prime change order adds each one as its own line, coded to its cost code, and recalculates it while the change order is a draft.
• Basic: a percentage of the work lines only
• Includes Above: a percentage of the work plus every markup above it
• Selective Compounding: profit on overhead but not on insurance, if that's what the contract says. On a $100,000 change with 10% overhead and 5% insurance, 5% profit on cost plus overhead is $5,500
• A negotiated number: override a markup amount on a draft, and it stays put when the lines change
Approvals and eSignature
Get it approved and signed without leaving Constructable
Prepare a change order for eSigning, add the people who approve it before it goes out, and choose who signs for the owner or the sub and for you. Constructable builds the PDF from the change order, or you upload your own.
• Who has it: Draft, Awaiting Approval, Out for Signing, Ready to Countersign, and Fully Executed, with a notification to each person when it's their turn
• What was signed: a fully executed change order is locked, and its PDF keeps the lines, amounts, and totals from execution
• Your signing order: set whether the other party or your team signs first, separately for owner and vendor paper
Budget, billing, and accounting
Changes land in the budget and the billing without double entry
Status and money are tracked separately. A change order can count toward billing before the last signature, or be signed before it's billable, so your totals follow your project's policy instead of the paperwork.
• Pending exposure: turn on Show Pending Change Orders in Totals on the Budget to count unsigned changes
• Billable On: a prime change order adds a locked Budget Modification for its budget impact on that date
• Ready to invoice: executed change orders add their lines to the contract's schedule of values for the next pay app
• Sage Intacct: executed change orders can create change documents in Sage Intacct, including purchase order change orders
• QuickBooks Desktop: each executed prime change order becomes its own Estimate, and each commitment change order its own Purchase Order. Connect QuickBooks Desktop
Reports and exports
Every change on the job in one list
The Change Events page has tabs for change events, prime change orders, and vendor change orders. Search by title or company, group the table, and see where every change stands.
• Your view: group by change event, company, or status, and filter by company and status
• For the OAC meeting: export the table you're looking at to PDF
• Billing progress: the Change Orders Report shows progress, retention, and invoiced to date on each change order line
Guardrails on every change order
Warnings before you add more
Picking a vendor warns you when their subcontract isn't fully executed or they already have an unsigned change order.
Locked once it's executed
A fully executed change order can't be edited in place. Move it back to Draft to correct it and execute it again.
Separate permissions for each side
Let a project engineer build vendor change orders, and keep prime change orders and eSigning to the people who deal with the owner.
Hear from the GCs building with Constructable
Loved in the office and in the field
Log a change event from the jobsite the day it happens with the Constructable app for iPhone, iPad, and Android.
Every change priced.
Every change signed.
Book a 30-minute demo with our team.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What's the difference between a change event and a change order?
A change event holds one scope issue, such as an owner request or a field condition. Its change orders price it. Vendor change orders carry the cost against a subcontract or purchase order, and prime change orders carry the revenue against the Prime Contract. One change event can hold several of each.
Can I track potential changes before I have pricing?
Yes. Create the change event as soon as the issue is real, with a title, description, event date, and schedule impact in business days. It shows on the Change Events list right away, and you add vendor and prime change orders when the pricing comes in.
How are overhead, insurance, and profit markups calculated? Can markups compound selectively?
You set each markup once on the Prime Contract with a name, a percentage, a cost code, and a calculation. Basic takes the percentage of the work lines. Includes Above takes it of the work plus every earlier markup. Selective Compounding takes it of the work plus only the earlier markups you pick. On a $100,000 change with 10% overhead, 5% insurance, and 5% profit on cost plus overhead, profit is $5,500. Each prime change order adds the markup lines for you.
Can I send change orders to the owner or subs for eSignature without DocuSign?
Yes. eSigning is built in. Select Actions, then Prepare for Esigning, and choose approvers, signers, and where they sign. The change order moves through Awaiting Approval, Out for Signing, and Ready to Countersign to Fully Executed, and each person gets a notification when it is their turn.
What happens to the budget and schedule of values when a change order is executed?
A fully executed change order adds its lines to the contract's schedule of values, so they can be invoiced. When a prime change order reaches its Billable On date, Constructable creates a locked Budget Modification for its budget impact.
Can I see pending change orders in budget totals without approving them?
Yes. On the Budget, select Actions, then Show Pending Change Orders in Totals. Pending prime and vendor change orders count in the totals, and the change orders themselves stay as they are.
Can I correct a change order after it's executed?
A fully executed change order is locked, and its PDF keeps the values from execution. To correct one, select Mark as Draft, make the change, and execute it again. A change order signed through Constructable eSigning, or one that is already billed on an invoice, stays executed. Record that correction on a new change order.
Does it sync with my accounting system?
Sage Intacct can create purchasing and project contract change documents from executed change orders, including purchase order change orders, based on your mappings. Some of those flows create the document and don't send later edits, so coordinate corrections with accounting. QuickBooks Desktop gets each executed prime change order as its own Estimate and each executed commitment change order as its own Purchase Order. See Connect QuickBooks Desktop.
Can I price unit-based work (quantity × unit price)?
Yes. Each change order line takes an optional quantity, unit, and unit price, and the amount follows from them. Leave them blank on a lump-sum line and type the amount.
Which plan includes change orders?
Change orders are part of the Field, Project, and Financial Management plan, along with commitments, budgeting, and invoicing. Every plan is a flat monthly rate with unlimited users. View our pricing page for more details.
Budget vs. actual
on every cost code
on every cost code
Pay apps in on time,
signed off in order
signed off in order
Know all your numbers
at a glance
at a glance