Create a Contract Change Order

The 'Change Order' interface lets the PM create a change order from scratch. You need to add a title, and description of the work and attach references like plan markups, photos/images, etc.

General Contractor

The general contractor can:

• Add their own estimates for the change and obtain approval from the owner. This is useful for any self-performed work.  
• Invite bids for the change work from the subcontractors, analyze then award the work to the winning bidder(s) after obtaining approval from the owner. This is useful for any additional work or work that deviates from the scope of the contract and requires budget and schedule amendments.

Subcontractor

The subcontractor can:

• Add their own estimate for the change and forward it to the general contractor for review and approval.  
• if required, the GC can invite bids from other subcontractors and vendors too. The GC accepts a qualifying bid(s) and approves the CO.

Roles and Permissions: 
Only users with roles having 'Create,' 'Maintain,' or 'Manage' permission enabled for the change order module can create draft change orders.

Adding a contract change order involves the following steps:

• Step1 - Create a Contract CO
• Step 2 - Add more details, the description, and watchers
• Step 3 - Add your estimate (Optional)

Step1 - Create a Contract CO

• Ensure that you are on the change order module of the project's management console. If not:
  • Click the app launcherand select 'Finance.' and click 'Change Order' on the top
• Select 'Boards' on the left.
• Click the '+ Create CO' button on the top right.

The change order creation wizard starts:

• Choose 'Contract' at the top
• Enter the details:
  • Change Order Title - A label for the CO shortly describing it (Max. 150 characters)
  • CO Type - Choose the type of the CO based on its reason
  • CO Sub Type - Select the sub-classification depending on the chosen type
  • Priority - Specify the criticality of the CO
  • Sequence - Specify the category of the change order as classified as per your company practices. The change order will be numbered in a series, depending upon the category. This numbering lets you quickly identify, filter/review change orders of a particular type.
• Click 'Create'

The change order opens at the 'Details' tab for adding more particulars:

The screen contains the following tabs:

• Details - Add general details like the due date, plan sheet and spec book references, add the description for the change required, and more. You can also add your colleagues to be notified of the progress of the CO, as watchers.  The 'Activity Log' at the top right shows the history of actions on the CO.
• My Estimate - Add your estimate/bid for the work involved in the change. This is mandatory for SCs and optional for general contractors. GCs can upload their estimates for any self-performed work.
• Work Cost - Applies only to General contractors - Request work cost estimates from the subcontractors for the change work and process them.
• CO Value - Applies only to General contractors - Arrive at the final cost of the CO after processing and accepting the work cost estimates from the contractors and proceed with the approval.
• Email - Share the change order with participants external to the Linarc platform, via email to gather their inputs. This functionality enables any stakeholder to generate a PDF version of the change order, capturing all details at its current stage, and forward it to external parties. Upon receiving responses, stakeholders can seamlessly incorporate the feedback and proceed with the change order workflow. 

Step 2 - Add more details, the description, and watchers

The mandatory fields in the 'Details' page are inherited from the details entered in the previous step. You can set a due date and add optional details and a description of the change work with supporting attachments. If the change order results from one or more RFIs / punch list items, you can attach them to your description. 

Ensure that you are in the 'Details' tab and add the following details:

• Due date - The date before which the change order should be closed. Use the calendar and specify the due date for the CO.
• Specification Code - The section in the project spec book related to the tasks and deliverables involved in the change work. Select the spec code from the drop-down. (optional)
• Sheet Code - The plan sheet reference to the change work. Choose the plan sheet number from the drop-down (optional)
• Location - The location of the constructed structure for which clarification is needed. You can specify the spot from the list of locations defined for the project. As a prerequisite, the project should have been uploaded with a hierarchical list of locations. See Add Multi-Tiered Locations to a Project for more details.

To add the location

• Click inside the location field

The 'Select Location' pop-up shows the hierarchically nested locations defined for the project

• Use the right arrows beside the parent-level items to expand them as required
• Select the location by clicking its serial number and clicking 'Ok'

• Description- Enter a description explaining the change work in detail. 
  • Use the tools on the top to format your text and add emojis, insert hyperlinks, tables, etc.
  • Click the paper clip icon to add attachments to your description
  • You can edit the description at any time before you route the CO to the next step
• Attachments - Click on the top right to add attachments like photos and documents to the description.
• Linked Items - Click 'Link Item' on the right to add related plan drawings, schedule items, budget items, and project documents like RFI, submittals, punchlists etc., related to the change order.

Add Links to other project documents (Optional)

• Click '+Link item' to attach links to items like Submittals, RFIs, plan sheets, plan markups, scheduled tasks, punchlist items, etc., to the question
• Choose the type of the item from the drop-down at the top

• Select the item to link
• Click 'Add'
• Repeat the process to link more items as required

Notes on Plan drawings and plan markups:

You can link plan drawings with or without markups, or already existing markups to the change order. The linked plan drawings are also added automatically as image attachments to the description. 

Plan drawings with or without markups:

• Choose 'Plans' in the link items drop-down menu
• The plan drawings added for the project are shown:

• To add a plan sheet, select the plan you want to use by clicking the check box on its left and click the 'Add' button
• To create a new markup to illustrate your change order click 'Add markup' on the left. See Markups for guidance on creating different types of markups on the plan drawing.
• Enter a name for the markup and click 'Ok' to add the newly created markup to the change order.
• Repeat the process to add more plan drawings.

Plan markups

• Choose 'Plan Markups' in the link items drop-down menu
• The list of plan markups added to various plan drawings for the project is shown
• Select the markup and click the 'Add button'
• Repeat the process to add more markups

Add Supporting Attachments

• Click on the top right to add attachments like photos, images, and/or other document files to your response:

• Drag and drop the file to the lower pane
• Alternatively,
  • Click 'Browse'
  • Navigate to the required image file and open
  • Repeat the process to add more images or documents
• Custom Fields - The 'Custom Fields' section includes any extra fields added by your administrator to capture specific details about the change order. These fields may be designated as optional or mandatory, depending on the administrator's settings. An example is shown below:

The next step is adding watchers (optional).

Add Watchers

The 'Watchers' pane allows you to specify your team members to notify them of the change order progress and details. Linarc sends a notification to the persons on each activity on the change order. If given access, they can view the details at each step from their Linarc project consoles.

• Start typing the name of the person in the text field under 'Watchers' and choose from the options.

• Click 'Add'
• Repeat the process to add more watchers

See Add and Manage Watchers for more guidance.

Note: 
You can add only the persons belonging to your company and who are included in the project team. See Manage Project Team Members for more details on adding project team members.

Step 3 - Add your estimate

The 'My Estimate' tab lets you add your bid for the change order as an Excel file. You can download the template file, enter the values and upload the same as your estimate. The tab enables only after you fill all mandatory fields under the 'Details' tab. 

General Contractor - This is optional. You can submit your estimate for any self-performed work. Otherwise, skip to inviting work cost estimates from your subcontractors.

Subcontractor - You can submit your bid proposal for the change order you create

You can submit your estimate in two ways:

• Create your estimate
• Upload your estimate

Create your estimate

• Click the 'My Estimate' tab

• Click 'Create' and start adding line items one by one.

• Each line in the file should contain one task entry. 
• Mandatory fields are highlighted with red borders
• Enter the values for the tasks under the following column headers. 
  • Task Code - The cost code of the line item. Typically, this is the standard code for the task or deliverable as per your company's cost code list.
    • Click inside the cell and select the code from the 'Company Task Codes' pop-up. The pop-up allows you to search for the codes using a partial cost code or the task name as the search criteria. 
• Double-click inside a cell to enter the following values. Enter the monetary values in US dollars.
  • Name - The label of the task or deliverable
  • Qty - The amount of work done by the task 
  • Unit - The unit by which the amount of work done is measured 
  • Hrs - The total labor effort needed to complete the task, measured in manhours
  • Labor - The manual labor cost estimated for the job
  • Equip - The estimate of cost incurred by the use of equipment and machinery for the work
  • Sub - Expenses related to external subcontracts, if any. 
  • Mat - Cost incurred by the materials used for the work 
  • Other - Miscellaneous expenses like transportation, material handling, fees paid to various vendors, agencies, and more.  
  • Oh - Overhead and operation costs that the company bears, relevant to the task
  • Profit - The profit expected from the work
  • Total - Auto-calculated from the values in the row
• Click '+Add Row' to add more line items
• Click 'Save' to save your draft

You can edit the values before submission. Click here to know more.

Upload your estimate

• Click the 'My Estimate' tab
• Click 'Download' at the bottom right to obtain a blank Excel file containing the required field headers. 

Requirements of the estimate file

• The Excel file should contain an exhaustive list of tasks for the completion of the change work. 
• Each line in the file should contain one task entry.
• Enter the values for the tasks under the following column headers. Enter the monetary values in US dollars. 
  • Task Code -  The cost code of the line item. Typically, this is the standard code for the task or deliverable as per your company's cost code list. Ensure that the codes entered here are included in your company's task code list. 
  • Task Name - The label of the task or deliverable
  • Quantity - The amount of work done by the task
  • Unit - Units by which the amount of work done is measured
  • Estimate Time - The period required for completion of the task in days
  • Estimate Labor - The manual labor cost estimated for the job
  • Estimate Equipment - The estimate of cost incurred by the use of equipment and machinery for the work
  • Estimate Subcontractor - Expenses related to subcontracts, if any.
  • Estimate Material - Cost incurred by the materials used for the work
  • Estimate Others - Miscellaneous expenses like transportation, material handling, fees paid to various vendors, agencies, and more. 
  • Overhead - Operation costs that the company bears
  • Profit - The profit expected from the work
• Save the Excel file with an appropriate name.
• Upload or drag and drop the file.

Your entries are validated and added to the draft list if there are no errors in them.

Tip: 
The entries with errors, for example, the task codes, are shown in red. You can directly double-click on the item and edit it.

• Click 'Save'

The draft estimate is shown:

• Review your draft estimate
  • Use the toggle switch at the top right to switch between the detailed view and the summary view
  • Click 'Reupload' and repeat the process if you want to present a revised estimate

Estimate Details:

The estimate details text box opens as soon as you save your draft estimate file. You can enter the details and descriptions for your estimate and add supporting documents and photos.

• Click the text box and start typing your description.
• Click on the top right to add attachments like photos, images, and/or other document files to your description.
• Click 'Save'
• Click 'Submit' to upload your estimate

Next step:

• General Contractor - Invite subcontractors to submit their estimates for the change work. See Request work estimates from subcontractors for more details
• Subcontractor - Click 'Route' to forward the change order to the general contractor

Tip: 
You can chat with the team members and the participants of the change order at any stage. Click the button on the top right. See Chat and collaborate on a CO for more guidance.