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Free download · Editable PDF
Free variation order template
A variation order records a change to the work: who instructed it, what changed, how it is valued and what it does to the programme, signed by both sides. This one is an editable PDF and a Word document with a guidance page on getting the variation paid, free to use and reuse.
- Format
- Editable PDF
- Pages
- 2
- Built on
- Construction Act section 110A
- Cost
- Free, always
What is in the variation order template
2 pagesThe instruction
Who instructed the change, when, and how: letter, email, site instruction or verbal, with their reference. A verbal instruction is confirmed in writing the same day.
The change and the reason
What is added, omitted or altered against the drawing, specification or order it changes, and why: client request, design change, unforeseen site condition, statutory requirement, or an error in the documents.
Cost and time
The cost basis, a quoted sum, measured at contract rates or daywork priced after, the estimate, the agreed value, the daywork sheet numbers, and the extension sought in working days with the activities affected.
Agreement, and the guidance page
Signed for the contractor and the client. The second page sets out the record to keep and how the variation reaches the application for payment under the Construction Act.
What the law and the contracts say
Checked against the sourceThe application
The payment mechanism is how a variation gets paid. The application states the sum the contractor considers due at the due date and the basis on which it is calculated. A variation that is not in the application is not in the notified sum.
Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996, section 110AThe pay less notice
If the payer disagrees with the sum, their route is a pay less notice before the deadline, stating the sum they consider due and the basis for it. Without one, the notified sum is payable on the final date for payment.
Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996, section 111Instructions in writing
The JCT and NEC families expect an instruction to be in writing, and each sets out how a verbal instruction is confirmed. Work done on a verbal instruction that was never confirmed is the variation most often disputed.
JCT and NEC standard forms; check your own contractHow to use it
Get it in writing before the work
Raise the variation order when the instruction is given, not when the application is due. If the instruction was verbal, send the confirmation the same day and keep it with this order.
Record the work as it happens
A daywork sheet signed each day, photographs, and the materials and plant tickets. The value is argued from the record, and the record is made on the day or not at all.
Put it in the next application
The variation becomes a line in the application for payment, with the sum and the basis of calculation. In Unibuild a variation is raised on site, priced in the office and carried into the application without being retyped.
Asked most often
Questions about
Questions about
this template.
Is this variation order template free?
Yes. It is free to download, use and reuse, including on paid work and for clients, with no sign-up and no email address. Download the editable PDF or the Word version.
What is a variation order in construction?
A written instruction to change the work from what the contract describes: something added, omitted or altered. It records who instructed the change, what it is, how it will be valued and what it does to the programme, and it is the document the variation is paid against.
Does a variation have to be in writing?
Under the JCT and NEC contracts, an instruction should be in writing, and each sets out how a verbal one is confirmed. Beyond the contract, the practical answer is that an unwritten variation is the one that is disputed at the final account. Confirm it in writing the same day and keep the confirmation.
How is a variation valued?
By the method the contract sets, usually in this order: a quoted sum agreed before the work, the contract rates measured against the work done, or daywork recorded on sheets and priced afterwards. The order records which basis applies, so the application uses the same one.
What if the client will not sign the variation order?
Do not wait for the signature to keep the record. Note who was told and when, keep the daywork sheets and photographs, and put the variation in the next application with its basis of calculation. If the payer disagrees, the Construction Act gives them the pay less notice, not silence.
Can a variation change the completion date?
Yes, where the contract allows an extension for the change, which the standard forms do. The order records the extension sought in working days and the activities affected, so the claim is made at the time rather than reconstructed later.
How does Unibuild handle variations?
A variation is raised on the phone against the job with the instruction and photographs, priced in the office from the contract rates, signed by the client on the day where they will, and carried into the application for payment without being retyped. The variations that never got invoiced are the ones this exists to stop.
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