Help Center/Project Management/Managing Change Orders

Managing Change Orders

A change order (CO) in construction is a formal document that modifies the original scope of work. It might add new tasks, remove planned work, or adjust dates on existing tasks. In BuildChart, change orders are Gantt-first— meaning every CO is directly tied to the schedule. When a change order is approved, the Gantt chart updates automatically. No manual date adjustments needed.

What Makes BuildChart Change Orders Different

Most construction software treats change orders as standalone financial documents. You fill out a form, attach a dollar amount, and then manually update the schedule separately. This creates drift between your contract records and your actual timeline.

In BuildChart, a change order is a schedule change with a cost impact. When you create a CO, you specify exactly which tasks are being added, removed, or modified. When the CO is approved, BuildChart executes those changes on the Gantt automatically — including cascading dependent tasks. The schedule impact is calculated, not estimated.

Change Order Statuses

  • Draft — Being prepared. Can be edited or deleted freely.
  • Submitted — Ready for review. Cannot be edited.
  • Approved — All task changes applied to the Gantt. Budget updated.
  • Rejected — Declined with a reason. No changes made to the schedule.

Creating a Change Order

  1. Open your project and click Change Orders in the project header bar.
  2. Click + New CO in the panel header.
  3. Step 1 — Details:Enter a title (e.g., “Add covered deck”), an optional description, and the cost impact. Use a positive number for additions and a negative number for credits.
  4. Step 2 — Task Changes:Click “Add a task change” and choose an action:
    • Add New Task — Define a new task with name, section, dates, assignee, and estimated cost.
    • Remove Existing Task — Select a task to remove from the project scope.
    • Modify Task Dates — Select a task and set new start/end dates.
    You can add multiple task changes to a single CO.
  5. Step 3 — Review:See a summary of all changes, total cost impact, and task changes. Then choose “Save as Draft” or “Submit for Approval.”

Submitting for Approval

A draft CO can be submitted when it has at least one task change. Once submitted, the CO is locked for editing and awaits review. An email notification is sent to the project owner.

Approving a Change Order

When you approve a submitted CO, BuildChart executes all task changes automatically:

  • Added tasks appear on the Gantt with a CO badge and green indicator.
  • Removed tasks are deleted (if no work was logged) or marked as cancelled.
  • Modified tasks have their dates updated, and all finish-to-start dependent tasks cascade automatically.

The project budget is updated to reflect the cost impact, and email notifications are sent to all project members.

Rejecting a Change Order

Rejecting a CO requires a reason. The schedule is not modified. The CO is marked as rejected with the reason visible in the panel. An email notification is sent to the submitter.

The CO Summary Report

At the bottom of the Change Orders panel, you’ll see a running summary of all approved change orders:

  • Original Contract — The sum of all task estimated costs before COs.
  • Each approved CO listed with its cost and schedule impact.
  • Current Contract — Original plus all approved CO cost impacts.
  • Schedule Impact — Net days added or removed by approved COs.

What the Client Sees

In the Client Portal, clients see a “Project Changes” section showing only approved change orders. Each CO shows the title, cost impact, schedule impact, and approval date. Draft and rejected COs are never visible to clients.

Gantt Visual Indicators

Tasks affected by approved change orders display a small CO# badge next to the task name in the left panel. The badge is color-coded:

  • Green (CO# badge) — Task was added by a change order.
  • Amber (CO# badge) — Task was modified by a change order.
  • Red (CO# badge) — Task was removed by a change order.

Tips

  • Use COs even for small scope changes — the audit trail is valuable for disputes.
  • The schedule impact is auto-calculated from task date changes. You don’t need to estimate it manually.
  • All change order actions are logged in the Activity Feed with before/after values for the audit trail.