To access and manage Variations for Cost Plus projects, follow these guidelines:
If there is an estimate attached to the job, it will need to be marked as 'Accepted' (under 'Status') to raise any variations. Note: this isn't necessary If it's a stand-alone job with no estimate attached.
You can change the status of the estimate back to draft and accepted as often as you like, but you will only be able to view or create the variations when it is showing as accepted.
With cost-plus projects, there is no mark-up function when creating a variation, as this is added in at the time of invoicing. Only contract price and completion % jobs allow markup on variations.