Variations
Priced, signed, and actually paid for
Why this one matters
Variations are where builders lose money quietly. The client asks for something on a Tuesday, the work gets done on the Thursday, and the paperwork is written in month four when nobody can remember what was agreed or what it cost.
The cost is rarely the variation itself. It is the ones that were done and never charged, because there was no record that they were ever a change at all.
What you will see
- A change priced from the same rates as the original estimate
- The client approving it in writing, with the date it happened
- The contract sum moving, so the job is now worth what was agreed
- The variation appearing in the next claim rather than being remembered
What was said
The narration, word for word, for anyone who would rather read it than watch it — or who is on a train.
Every variation across your jobs, in one place. The tiles show what needs attention: waiting for approval, approved but not yet in the estimate, and requests from clients.
Each variation shows its status, its total, and when something last happened.
A variation can take something out, too. Deleting the pergola is a credit, so its total is negative.
Send a variation to the client by email or a link. You can see when they've opened it.
Open a variation and its tracker lists every step from request to payment: approved, estimating, bill of quantities updated, purchase orders, site work completed, claimed and paid. Mark each one done as it happens, so anyone can see where a variation is up to.
Its lines are what it adds or takes away, with cost, markup and GST. The orders tab lists the purchase orders it needs, and the activity is the record of who did what. When it is signed, Approve and apply to bill of quantities does both in one step.
The client signs online, or you record their signature. Once approved, it's locked.
Then apply it to the estimate, so the bill of quantities, the budget and the orders all reflect the change.
Add approved variations to your next progress claim, so the money actually arrives.
Client requests are the changes your clients ask for through the portal, waiting for you to price. Search finds a variation by name, number, client or project, and the project box narrows the board to one job.
Doing it, rather than watching it
This page is the tour. When you are in SmarteBuild with a job open and need the detail — every option, every exception, the things the video had no time for — the help centre has the full article.
Creating a variation — the full reference
Read about it instead: Variations · Progress Claims · Client Portal
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