Price the change. Get it signed.
A change order is a formal, priced change to a construction contract's items and timeline.
A change order is a formal, priced change to the items on a construction contract. It records which bid items change, by how much, and how the change affects the project's authorized value and completion date. In Oversite you price the change line by line, route the document through the contractor, CEI, and owner for signature, and approve it when it is ready. Only approved change orders roll into the project's authorized value and locked end date.
The one document that moves contract value still moves by hand.
Change orders decide what the job is worth and when it ends, yet they live in spreadsheets and email.
Spreadsheet pricing
Line-item math lives in a spreadsheet that never quite matches the pay estimate. A deductive change gets keyed as a positive and the total is wrong before anyone signs.
Signatures by email
The change order goes out as a PDF attachment for wet-ink signatures. It sits in an inbox, gets printed, scanned, and resent, and no one knows whose turn it is.
Reconciled by hand
Approved changes get re-keyed into the contract total and the schedule. Miss one and the authorized value and end date drift from what was actually signed.
Price it, route it, approve it.
Price the change
Adjust existing bid items or add new ones, and set a new end date if the work needs more time. A summary bar shows the current cost, the adjusted cost, and the net effect as you edit.
Route for signature
Send the change order to the contractor, then the owner. Each party signs on the document, and the ball-in-court pill shows whose turn it is at every step.
Approve and apply
Approve the change order to apply its item and timeline changes to the project and lock the adjusted end date. The contractor, CEI, and owner all get a confirmation email.
01. Price the change, line by line.
Adjust the quantity or price of items already on the project, or add brand-new items with their own unit price. Deductive changes subtract, so a reduced quantity lowers the total instead of inflating it. A summary bar tracks the current project cost, the adjusted cost, and the total change order effect as a running percentage while you work.
02. Route it through every party.
Send the change order to the contractor for signature, then to the owner. Each stakeholder signs on the document inside Oversite, and the engineer signature block completes the three signatures the exported PDF carries. A ball-in-court pill shows whose action is expected next. A signer who cannot accept the change declines with a reason, and the change order returns to the CEI to address.
03. Every change order in one log.
The All Change Orders list shows every change order across your projects with its amount, type, status, and whose court it sits in. Filter by draft, pending approval, approved, or archived, and open any one to the full document. Export the whole log to PDF or CSV, or export a single change order with its signatures for the project record.
Change orders, answered.
What is a change order?
A change order is a formal, priced change to the items on a construction contract. It records which bid items change and by how much, how the project's authorized value changes, and any adjustment to the completion date, then routes the document for signature and approval.
Who can create a change order in Oversite?
CEI and agency users with a manager role create and price change orders. A contractor cannot create one, but can submit a request for the CEI to review and promote to a working draft.
How does Oversite calculate the change order total?
Each existing item is priced by its proposed quantity change times its unit price, and each new item by its quantity times its unit price. The two sum to the net effect, shown live as current cost, adjusted cost, and total change order effect while you edit.
How are change orders signed?
The change order routes to the contractor and then the owner, who each draw a signature on the document inside Oversite. The engineer signature completes the three signature blocks the exported PDF carries. A signer can decline with a reason instead, which returns the change order to the CEI.
When does a change order affect the project total?
When it is approved. Approving a change order applies its item and timeline changes to the project and locks the adjusted end date. Only approved change orders count toward the project's authorized value.
Can the CEI approve without every signature?
Yes. When a project has no contractor or owner stakeholder to route to, the CEI approves the change order directly. Approval is always an explicit CEI action.
See a change order signed on a real contract.
Book a 30-minute walkthrough with our CEI solutions team.