Construction change order process flowchart (notice to payment)
Construction change order flowchart template: written notice, request for proposal, subcontractor pricing, architect review, owner approval, unpriced directives, subcontract amendments and payment.
What the construction change order process flowchart (notice to payment) process is
A change order is the contract's own way of changing itself. On a building project the scope is fixed by drawings, specifications and a price, and almost everything that happens afterwards is a departure from one of them: the owner adds a room, the design team revises a detail, the ground turns out different from the investigation, an authority requires another fire barrier, or an answer to a request for information adds work nobody priced. The trigger is the moment someone realises the contract no longer describes what is about to be built. The chart follows one change from that moment to its payment: the event identified, the decision about whether it is really a change, written notice within the contract's period, a request for proposal from the design team, subcontractor quotes, the contractor's priced proposal with backup, the architect's or engineer's check, the owner's representative checking the budget, the owner's decision, the signed change order, the amendment passed down to the subcontractor, the changed work, and the new line on the schedule of values.
This is the construction version of change control, and it differs from the general project change request in three ways. First, the contract sets the rules: notice periods, who may instruct, what a directive is, how markup is added and how a time extension is claimed all come from the agreement, so a late notice can lose a right that a polite request never would. Second, a design professional sits in the middle, checking that the priced scope matches what was drawn without deciding whether the owner should pay. Third, the money moves through a payment certificate, not a budget line alone, so a change is not finished until it appears there. For the general version, see /templates/project-change-request-process. For the contract approval that sits upstream, see /templates/contract-approval-process. Adapt the chart to your own contract form, whether AIA, FIDIC, NEC, JCT or a bespoke agreement, and to the law where you build. Nothing here is legal advice.
Three decisions carry the process. "Change to the contract scope?" is the one most often skipped: if the contractor and the architect disagree about whether work is extra, that disagreement is a notice event, not a conversation. "Pricing substantiated?" is the review loop, and it should be a loop with a short list of queries, not a pile of emails. "Owner approves the change?" has three exits, not two: approved, rejected, or cannot agree price, which leads to the unpriced directive when the work cannot wait. That exception path is where most disputes begin, because work proceeds without an agreed price, so the chart draws daily cost and time records into the step straight after it. Questions that start the process often begin as an RFI; see /templates/rfi-request-for-information-process. Time effects feed /templates/extension-of-time-claim-process, and the payment line feeds /templates/construction-progress-payment-process.
What this flowchart covers
In this template
- Five swimlanes (Contractor, Subcontractor, Architect / engineer, Owner's representative and Owner) across five phases: notice and scope, pricing, review, approve, and perform and bill
- A scope gate, "Change to the contract scope?", that separates a real change from work already in the contract, and a written notice step tied to the contract's period rather than the contractor's convenience
- A pricing loop: subcontractor quotes, the contractor's proposal with backup, the architect's review and "Pricing substantiated?", with a "Query raised" branch that sends the proposal back for repricing
- Owner approval drawn as a three-way decision, "Owner approves the change?", with "Approved", "Rejected" and "Cannot agree price" exits, and the budget and contingency check that comes before it
- An exception path for work that cannot wait: "Unpriced change directive issued to proceed", followed by daily cost and time records until the "Price agreed" branch returns to the signed change order
- The back end most templates omit: the subcontract amendment passed down, the changed work recorded against the change order, and the amount added to the schedule of values so it reaches the next payment
When to use this template
- You are setting the change procedure for a project and want the notice, pricing, review and approval handoffs drawn in one place
- Change orders are being signed after the work is done and you need the sequence that stops that, with the directive route for genuine urgency
- Subcontractors price work that the main contract never amended, and you want the pass-down step visible
- An owner or lender has asked how changes are authorised, priced and recorded on the project
- A dispute is looming over a late notice and you want to check where your process should have captured it
How it works
Rename the lanes to the parties on your contract
Replace Contractor, Subcontractor, Architect / engineer, Owner's representative and Owner with the contract's own names, such as employer, contract administrator or project manager. Where one person holds two roles, merge the lanes, but write down which decisions they hold.
Write the notice clause into the first steps
Open your contract and copy the notice period, the form of notice, who it goes to and what happens if it is late. Put those words in the comments on the notice step so the site team sees them without reading the whole agreement.
Set the pricing rules
State the markup, the unit rates, the time-and-materials basis and the backup the proposal must include. Add the response times for the request for proposal and the architect's review, so a loop has a clock on it.
Set approval limits
Write who may approve changes up to which value, and when a change goes to a board or lender. The "Owner approves the change?" decision should name the person, not the organisation.
Decide what a directive may do
Say whether your contract permits an unpriced directive, who may issue it, and how payment on account works. This exception path is where most disputes begin, so make it narrow and visible.
Link the change to payment and programme
Add the schedule of values update and the revised completion date to the closing steps. A change that does not reach the payment application or the programme is not closed.
Test it on two real changes
Run one change that went smoothly and one that became a dispute through the chart. Wherever the real story differs from the drawing, decide whether the process or the habit has to change.
Frequently asked questions
What are the steps in a construction change order process?
A change event is identified and someone decides whether it is within the contract scope. If not, the contractor serves written notice within the contract period. The design team issues a request for proposal with revised information, subcontractors quote, and the contractor prices labour, material, markup and time effect and submits a proposal with backup. The architect or engineer checks the pricing against the design intent, the owner's representative checks the budget, and the owner approves, rejects or cannot agree price. An approved change is signed as a change order, passed to the subcontractor as an amendment, carried out with records kept, and added to the schedule of values for payment.
What is the difference between a change order and a change directive?
A change order records an agreed change in scope, price and time, signed by the parties. A change directive, under contracts that provide for one, lets the owner or architect instruct the work to proceed before the price is agreed, with the price settled afterwards. The names and rules differ by contract form, and some forms have neither or use different terms. Check yours. The chart shows the directive as an exception path because it carries the highest dispute risk: work proceeds, cost accumulates and the evidence needs to be kept daily.
Why does the notice step matter so much?
Many construction contracts require written notice of a change or claim within a stated number of days of the event, and some make late notice a bar to recovery. The details depend on the contract and on local law, so the chart ties the notice step to your own clause rather than giving a number. Treat the clock as starting when the contractor knew, or should have known, of the event, unless your contract says otherwise.
How is this different from a project change request?
A project change request, as in /templates/project-change-request-process, is a general governance step: assess impact, approve, update the plan. A construction change order adds contractual machinery: notice periods, a design professional checking pricing against the drawings, markup and rates fixed by the agreement, unpriced directives, subcontract pass-down and payment through a certificate. The two can coexist, with the change request governing the owner's internal decision and the change order recording what the contract does with it.
Who should approve a change order?
Whoever your contract and your organisation name. In practice that is a chain: the architect or engineer confirms the pricing matches the design intent, the owner's representative confirms budget and contingency, and the owner or a delegate with sufficient authority signs. The chart separates these roles because each answers a different question, and an approval that mixes them tends to leave one unanswered.
Where this process fits
In most operations this process follows RFI process flowchart (construction request for information) and hands off to Construction progress payment process flowchart (pay application).
It is one step in Contract administration.
Step 1: RFI process flowchart (construction request for information)
RFI process flowchart template for construction: screening a field question, routing it to the architect or engineer of record, response deadlines, overdue escalation and the handoff to change order or delay notice.
Step 2: Construction change order process flowchart (notice to payment) You are here
Construction change order flowchart template: written notice, request for proposal, subcontractor pricing, architect review, owner approval, unpriced directives, subcontract amendments and payment.
Step 3: Construction progress payment process flowchart (pay application)
Construction progress payment flowchart template: pay application against the schedule of values, measurement, certification, disputes, retainage, late-payment notice and payment down the chain.