Change orders overview

A change order (CO) occurs when there's a change to the original prime contract's scope of work. The owner, architect, regulatory agency, or even your own firm can initiate a change.

COs can be documented regardless of contract type: Fixed Lump Sum, Cost Plus, or Unit Price. When marked approved with a signed date, the CO affects budgets for any type of contract.

Revised budgets shown on reports and project analytics are affected only if change orders are marked as Approved with a status date.

Contract type Budget type
Revenue or contract amount M/L/E/S/O cost Labor hours Equipment hours
Fixed lump sum Yes Yes Yes Yes
Cost plus with GMP Yes Yes Yes Yes
Cost plus without GMP No Yes Yes Yes
Unit price Yes Yes Yes Yes

Yes indicates that the CO will add or deduct from the original budgets in the prime contract.

  • The CO order number determines previous CO amounts. On the CO report, the previous amount includes all COs marked Approved with a status date and an order number lower than the current CO.

  • The CO status options follow this sequence:

    1. Draft

    2. Pending Submission

    3. Pending

    4. Approved or Not Approved

  • After the customer reviews the CO, update both the status and status date.
  • The prime contract invoice includes COs if the following conditions are met:
    • The prime contract type must be Fixed Lump Sum or Unit Price.
    • The CO must be marked as Approved with a status date.
    • The CO status date must be on or before the prime contract invoice's issue date.
  • Financial dashboards in the Analytics module reflect only change orders that have been marked as Approved with a status date.
  1. Review the CPR/CO Initiated By options in Settings () > Feature Settings > Contract Admin.
  2. Ensure that the person who will review the change order is listed in the project directory.
  3. Ensure that the prime contract has been created and is marked as Approved with a status date.
  4. Job cost codes must be established because they must be referenced in the CO Items list.
  5. Optionally, establish tax codes that can be referenced on the CO Items list.
  6. Optionally, add default CPR/CO markups.

Add a CO

COs can be created manually, or they can be generated from an estimate, change proposal request (CPR), or work order (WO).

Edit a CO

  • You cannot add or modify CO items under the following conditions, even if they have not yet been invoiced:

    • A prime contract invoice exists.
    • The Do not allow prime contracts or change orders to be modified after prime invoices have been created checkbox is selected in Settings () > Feature Settings > Contract Admin.
  • CO items that have been invoiced cannot be modified.
  • If a workflow rule that applies to a CO has already been initiated or approved, you cannot modify the CO unless the rule is abandoned.

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Posted July 22, 2026 © 2026 The Sage Group plc or its affiliates ("Sage") or its licensors. All trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners. Use of non-Sage trademarks is not an endorsement of any person or product.