Audience: Builders
Read time: 7 mins
Article contents: Steps on how to do variations/change orders on cost-plus jobs.
Variations can be done in cost-plus jobs for items out of budget, and for items that need to be swapped out.
This article only covers cost-plus jobs, if you're looking for info on variations on contract jobs, head here:
How does markup work in cost-plus variations?
For all cost-plus jobs the markup is applied at the time of invoicing, this means that if you add a variation and the client approves it, the extra budget goes to actual costings. When you purchase that item the cost of purchasing the item will be passed onto the client and will accrue markup at that point. This is the reason that the markup boxes do not appear on the cost-plus variation screen, and as a result the variation itself shows only the budget without markup added.
How do I create a variation for an out-of-budget item?
Navigate to the Jobs section.
Select the job that you want to create a variation for.
Click into the Variations tab.
Click the green '+' button.
A new variation will appear.
Add a description.
Add proposed start (optional).
Add delay days (optional).
Click the green '+' button to add item/s.
Enter item description.
Enter quantity and unit price
Choose actuals category from dropdown, or type in this field if you want to put Variations into a separate category in the job.
Click 'Save & Share', a pop up will appear with email details, click 'Send'.
How do I create a variation for items to be swapped out?
Click on the Actuals Costings of your job.
Tick the box to the left of the item name.
Click on Add Variation, the blue box at the bottom of the screen.
The variation screen will then pop up.
You will see the item to be swapped out in a negative.
Use the green '+' button to add in the item you want to use.
Fill in the details of the new item.
Choose the same Actuals Category as the item to be swapped out.
Click Save & Share, a pop up will appear with email details, click Send.
Accepting the Variation
Your Variation will not add to the Actuals Costings until it has been changed to an 'Accepted' status.
To do this, go to the Variations tab, open the Variation, and change the status at the top right from Sent to Accepted.
Invoicing the Variation
When the variation has been accepted the new cost lines will be added to your actual costings screen. As cost-plus jobs only create invoices as a result of received purchase orders and completed work orders, the cost of the variation will be passed onto the client when you generate orders for these new items. At the time you generate the invoice you'll be able to add markup on the order like normal.
In other words, in a cost-plus job the entire variation is not added directly to an invoice as it is for a contract price job.