Changes · For builders
The customer is standing beside you on site and says:
‘While you are here, could you move that doorway and add two sockets?’
It sounds simple. You know how to do it. Stopping to write something down feels awkward and slow.
This is precisely the moment to record the change.
Not because you distrust the customer. Because three months later neither of you will remember the whole conversation as clearly as you do now.
Raise a variation when the request would change any accepted part of the project, including:
If the customer is only asking a question, answer it first. If they are choosing between products already covered by an allowance, record the selection and any budget effect. If they are asking you to deliver a different or additional result, it is likely to need a variation.
You may believe the customer has authorised the work. The customer may believe you have confirmed it is included.
The missing details often include:
The dispute is rarely caused by whether the conversation happened. It is caused by what each person thought the conversation meant.
A useful variation should show:
This does not need to become a long contract document for every small change. It needs enough information for both people to recognise the same agreement later.
The customer asks for six additional sockets during electrical first fix. You create a change against the first-fix electrical work.
Sent to the customer before the work starts.
The customer asks whether two locations could use the existing circuit arrangement and reduce the cost. You revise the proposal to £690. They accept. The work and evidence remain attached to that decision.
At final account, the additional sum is not a surprise. The record shows why it exists.
Do not assume an omission becomes a customer-funded variation simply because it costs you money. Ask:
The legal and commercial position depends on the agreement and facts. Be transparent early. Trying to disguise an estimating error as an unforeseen change damages trust and may not create a recoverable entitlement.
Some urgent conditions involve safety, weather exposure, damage prevention or sequencing. If waiting for ordinary approval is genuinely impractical:
Emergency should not become a routine justification for retrospective pricing.
Do not continue silently and hope approval appears later.
Use the agreed project process. That may involve a reminder, a response deadline, pausing the affected work, continuing unrelated work or escalating to a professional. The precise consequence depends on the contract and Assurr workflow.
The important commercial rule is simple: do not accumulate avoidable unapproved exposure.
Assurr keeps the variation linked to the work it changes. The customer can see the original agreement, reason, price, timing, evidence and available response. Questions and revisions remain attached. If accepted, the relevant project version and financial position update.
Assurr does not decide whether you are legally entitled to charge the variation or whether the price is correct. It makes the proposal and decision far harder to misunderstand later.
Before starting changed work, confirm:
Good trades already know that changes need managing. Assurr’s role is to make it easier to prove that you managed them fairly.