Change Order Review

A change order arrives as a number and a paragraph, and the paragraph is doing a lot of work. The review is the same short list of questions every time, and the project needs a running record of what all the changes add up to. This does the list and keeps the record.

Workflow

Step 1. Bootstrap if needed

Check whether docs/construction/change-log.md exists. If not, copy assets/change-log-template.md there and record the project name and the original contract sum as you state it. If the project has no docs/ folder at all, confirm before creating one.

Step 2. Review the proposal

Work through the checklist, one finding per line, quoting the proposal where it answers and saying not provided where it does not:

1. Scope. Is the changed work described specifically enough to price a second time? Does it say what is added, what is deleted, what is reused?
2. Origin. What triggered it: an RFI, an ASI, a CCD, an owner request, a field condition? Name the document and date.
3. Cost breakdown. Labor, material, equipment, subcontractor quotes, markup, each visible? A single lump figure is a finding, not a disqualifier.
4. Markup. Against the contract clause as you quote it. No clause supplied, the check reads unverified rather than passing.
5. Time. Days requested, or an explicit zero. Silence on time is a finding; silence is not zero.
6. Credits. Deleted work priced as a credit, at a visible rate.
7. Overlap. Read the log: does any earlier change touch the same work? Name the entries.

Step 3. Log it

One entry: CO-001 sequential, date received, origin document, scope in one line, cost as submitted, time as submitted, status proposed. Every checklist finding that read not provided or unverified is listed on the entry.

Step 4. Track the status

Statuses: proposed, revised, approved, rejected, withdrawn. On approved, record the approved cost and time, which may differ from submitted, and update the running total:

Original contract sum   <as stated>
Approved changes        CO-001 <n>, CO-003 <n>, ...
Current contract sum    <arithmetic> = <n>   (<n>% of original)

Revisions append to the entry; the submitted numbers stay visible under the approved ones.

Step 5. Report

On "where are we on changes": the running total first, then proposed changes awaiting action with days outstanding, then approved changes by origin type, then every entry carrying unresolved findings.

Rules

• Silence is a finding. No time statement, no breakdown, no basis: each is recorded as not provided, never assumed.
• Show the running total arithmetic every time it changes.
• Quote the contract clause on every markup and basis check, or mark the check unverified.
• Submitted and approved figures both stay on the entry. The gap between them is information.
• Never delete an entry. Withdrawn and rejected changes remain, marked.

Anti-patterns

• Calling a price high or low. That is a benchmark question with a different tool and a judgment that is not this skill's.
• Passing the markup check from memory of what AIA contracts usually allow.
• Treating silence on schedule as zero time impact.
• Logging only approved changes, so the log flatters the project.
• Netting credits against additions in one line so neither is visible.

Resources

• assets/change-log-template.md — the log this creates, empty.

No reference files. The terms come from your contract, not from here.