Change Orders

Free Web App

Change Orders are how scope changes get captured after a bid is accepted and a project is live. Instead of editing the original bid (which is now a signed contract), you create a Change Order that documents the added work, its cost, and the reason, and send it to the customer for approval.

Creating and tracking change orders is available on all plans. Sending them to the customer for portal-based approval requires Business or above (part of the Customer Portal feature).

Who can do what

• Create / edit: Owner, Manager, and Foremen assigned to the project.
• Approve internally: Owner, Manager.
• Approve via Customer Portal: the customer (if the change order has been shared with them — Business or higher).
• View: everyone on the project, though field roles don’t see cost/financial fields.

Creating a change order

1. Open the project detail page (/projects/<id>).
2. Scroll to the Change Orders section and click Add Change Order.
3. Fill in:
   • Description (required) — what’s being added or changed.
   • Cost (required) — the dollar impact.
   • Reason (optional) — why it’s needed. Helpful for the customer and for your audit trail.
   • Attachments (optional) — photos, revised drawings, etc.
4. Save. The app auto-generates an orderNumber (like CO-1715883000) and sets requestDate to today.

The new change order starts with status: 'Pending' internally and customerStatus: 'pending' if sharing is enabled.

Dual approval flow

Change orders have two independent approval states:

• Internal status — your team’s decision (Pending → Approved).
• Customer status — the customer’s decision via the Customer Portal (pending → approved / rejected).

Both sides can act independently. You might approve a change order internally before the customer sees it; the customer might reject something you haven’t finalized yet. Final acceptance requires both sides to say yes.

Customer approval via the portal

Business or higher Web App

If the customer has Customer Portal access and the project is shared with them, new change orders auto-share to the customer on creation. They see it in their Portal under Change Orders, where they can:

• Read the description and reason.
• See the cost impact.
• Approve — with optional note.
• Reject — with a required reason.

Their decision updates customerStatus and notifies your team via email (if you have Change Order Alerts enabled).

Notifications

Under Smart Notifications → Change Order Alerts, you can:

• Enable email alerts.
• Pick which team members get notified when:
  • A new change order is created.
  • The customer approves or rejects.
  • A change order status flips internally.

Emails go out via the standard notification system.

Status values

Internal (status):

• Pending — default, awaiting your internal approval.
• Approved — your team has approved the scope change.
• Deleted — soft-deleted; kept in history but excluded from totals.

Customer-side (customerStatus):

• pending — awaiting the customer’s decision.
• approved — customer said yes (signature captured if Portal has e-sign enabled).
• rejected — customer said no. Rejection reason is stored.

On the project page

The project detail page shows the change order list under its own section:

• Order number, description, cost, date.
• Two status pills (internal + customer).
• Rejection reason if applicable.
• Approval signatures and timestamps.

Running project cost = approvedBidPrice + sum of internally-approved change orders. This rolls into the project’s actuals reporting.

Best practices

• Describe the scope, not just the dollars. “Add 200 sq ft of concrete pad per revised plan” beats “Additional concrete $3k”. The customer is more likely to approve something they understand.
• Attach the revised drawing or photos when they exist. Portal approval with evidence > portal approval without.
• Use the reason field to note what triggered the change (customer request vs site discovery vs regulatory).
• Approve internally first so the customer sees that your team has reviewed and signed off before asking them to do the same.

Plan comparison

Feature	Free	Business & up
Create change orders	✓	✓
Track status internally	✓	✓
Share with customer for approval	—	✓
Customer signatures	—	✓
Customer Portal visibility	—	✓

On the Free plan you can still document change orders for your records, you just can’t send them to the customer for electronic approval.

Next steps

Projects Where change orders live.

Customer Portal How customers see and approve change orders.

Manual Bidding Build the original bid that becomes a project.