Variation Pricing
Risk mitigationFixed FeeFor Subcontractors & Main Contractors5 working days per variation batch
I price a variation properly while the change is still cheap to price, measured against the contract's own rules and built up so the other side can agree it rather than argue with it. A change priced the week it happens costs an hour; the same change priced a year later, from memory, costs the argument.
The problem
The instruction lands, the work gets done because the site cannot wait, and the pricing goes on a list for later. Later is the final account, by which point the labour has moved on and the measure is buried under the finishes, so the only honest number anyone can reach is a guess dressed as a claim, which the other side reads as an opening bid. A variation valued the week it happens is a line in the account; valued from memory it is an argument.
The solution
I value the change the way the contract says it must be valued: bill or activity-schedule rates where the work is the same, pro-rata where it is similar, and fair rates from first principles only where nothing in the pricing document applies, with any time or disruption consequence flagged as a separate head rather than smuggled into the rate. The build-up is presented to be agreed rather than defended, rates traced to their source. Priced per variation or batch as a fixed fee agreed before I start, it is a one-off, so a single awkward change needs no monthly service.
What you receive
The change is a priced line with its reasoning on the page, agreed close to when it happened rather than fought over a year later. Because the build-up traces every rate to the contract, the conversation is about arithmetic rather than trust, and the final account inherits a settled figure instead of an open argument.
The Handover Pack accompanies the work with its dates and sources, likely outcomes and responses, scope boundaries and ready-to-send correspondence where needed.
Turnaround: five working days per variation batch.
The working days start when the agreed scope and required inputs are available. Optional items do not hold the start unless the agreed scope says otherwise.
How it works
You tell me about the change and the contract
One call on the variation, the instruction behind it and the pricing document it will be measured against. The first conversation is free and commits you to nothing.
You send me the instruction, the pricing and the records
The list below lets the change be measured against the contract's own rates rather than against a guess.
- A
The instruction
EssentialWithout it: There is nothing to price against: no authority for the change, so no valuation can start
Where to find it: The contract administrator's or main contractor's instruction email, and the drawing register.
Why I need it: What authorises the change, and who gave it
- B
Drawings or scope of the change
EssentialWithout it: The change itself cannot be pinned down, so nothing about what actually changed can be priced
Where to find it: The contract administrator's or main contractor's instruction email, and the drawing register.
Why I need it: What the change actually is
- C
Contract rates or schedule of rates
EssentialWithout it: There is no valuation basis, so the price has no anchor in what you actually agreed
Where to find it: The tender folder, or an appendix bound into the contract itself.
Why I need it: The valuation basis the contract requires
- D
Resource records
ImportantWithout it: Any resource that is not recorded is valued at nil, so the price ends up lower than the work actually cost
Where to find it: The site team's day book and phones, and the supplier invoices file.
Why I need it: What proves the resource actually used
- E
Programme impact, if any
ImportantWithout it: Nothing is valued under preliminaries at all, so any prolongation cost from the change is simply left out
Where to find it: Your programmer's impact analysis, an updated programme, or a note giving the period and who assessed it.
Why I need it: Prolongation is valued on the money only
- F
Daywork records if applicable
ImportantWithout it: Work that should have gone through daywork is valued under the ordinary rate rule instead, or at nil, which is rarely as much
Where to find it: The site team's day book and phones, and the supplier invoices file.
Why I need it: The fallback where rates do not apply
Copies are fine. Send what you have and I'll tell you what's missing. Download the client request PDF or editable Word version to pass to whoever holds the files.
Submission Clock Checked
The contract's period for submitting the valuation, and any condition attached to it, is written down with its expiry date before any pricing starts.
- A
I fix the scope of the change first
Before and after pinned down against the drawings, so the price answers what was actually instructed rather than what it grew into on site.
I choose the valuation basis the contract requires
Bill rates for the same work, pro-rata for the similar, fair rates only where nothing applies, each choice named so nobody can reopen it later.
I flag any time or disruption consequence separately
Kept as its own head under its own clause, not buried in the rate, so the money and the time are each visible and each properly founded.
Every Figure Traced
Nothing is put forward until every figure in the build-up traces to a record and the total has been proven against a second method of valuation.
You put the priced build-up to the other side
The pricing goes out in your name, laid out to be checked rather than negotiated, and the reply comes to you.
I price each change while it is cheap to price
Free Service Pack
A step-by-step Handbook, with the templates and working documents you need to carry out the work it covers yourself. You supply your own project information and records.
Follow the Handbook's scope and stopping points, and obtain independent advice where required. The pack is not project-specific advice or independent sign-off.
My products used
Tips that raise your odds of success
Questions I get asked often
A priced variation only helps if it is then confirmed and carried into the account, which is what Variation Issuing & Registers does month after month. Where the change turns on rates that are not yet agreed anywhere on the job, the subcontract drafting that set those rates is worth revisiting. If a priced variation is flatly refused and has to be fought, that is a dispute, and the claims side of this practice deals with those.