Think Plumb Blog

Construction Change Orders: Find an easier way to approve change orders

Written by Plumb | Dec 20, 2021 7:52:00 PM

Are you struggling to find an easier way to approve, track and process construction change orders? Managing construction change orders effectively is essential to the overall project management to meet deadlines, track costs and job profitability.

At Plumb, we have a team of construction accounting software experts to help you find easier solutions for your change order management.  Recommended by general contractors and subcontractors, Sage Service Operations (SSO) is a web-based software that works with Sage 100 Contractor and Sage 300 Construction and Real Estate to bridge the gap of communication between the project team, office and field staff. This helps speed up the approval process of construction change orders and produces work orders in real time.

With Sage Service Operations you can add attachments, such as images and instructions, to change order reports, while drawing a quick sketch with a click of a button.

 

 

Software Features of Sage Service Operations

Do you know the different types of construction change orders?

  • Lump Sum Change Order: Change in the scope of work that can be quantified with a firm price. This could be either cost plus or credit change order.  A cost plus lump sum change order results in an overall increase in the expense of the project (including labor, materials, equipment).  A credit change order is when the contractor issues a credit against the contract to reduce the quantity of work for the project.
  • Zero Cost Change Order: This change order does not change the contracted price, but is still documented in case the scope of work changes.  For example, the owner wants to change the color of paint, but the cost of the paint stays the same.
  • Time & Material Change Order: This change order happens when the new scope of work cannot be estimated.  Contractors can still track their time spent working on the change order and any costs associated with new materials or equipment.
  • Unitary Cost Change Order: This is typically negotiated upfront based on additional scope of work that can be defined by specific units of measure. Contractors will need to track the work completed based on the unit of measure in the schedule.

Sage Service Operations can improve work order functionality with the following features:

  • Work order management
  • Scheduling and dispatch
  • Customer site history
  • Equipment history
  • Preventative maintenance tasking
  • Purchase orders
  • Inventory management
  • Photos and sketches
  • Time entry
  • Quotes
  • Forms and electronic signatures