QScope

Variations

Raising and valuing a variation

Recording the amount is the easy half. What you are asked for two years later is which rule you valued it under, and that is the part that usually was never written down.

QScope Team·5 min read

Raise the variation

  1. Open Variations and add a new one. It numbers itself as VO-01, VO-02 and so on.
  2. Enter the date, who instructed it, and a description of the change.
  3. Set the nature: addition, omission or substitution.
  4. Add the line items with quantity, unit and rate. The subtotal builds itself.

Record the reasoning, not just the number

These four fields are what make a variation defensible. They take a minute at the time and they are the difference between a variation you can justify and a number you have to reconstruct from memory.

  1. Basis of valuation: contract rates, pro-rata or star rate, fair rates and prices, dayworks, or a lump sum quotation. Use the first rule that genuinely applies.
  2. Contract clause: the provision you are relying on, for example JCT 5.6.1.
  3. Extension of time: days, or leave it blank if none is claimed.
  4. Loss and expense: yes or no.
Reaching for fair rates when contract rates would have applied is one of the most common grounds on which a valuation is challenged. Recording which rule you used, and why, is what settles that argument.

Approve it

A variation stays Pending until the change is agreed. Approved variations are the ones that adjust the contract sum and become available to certify.

  1. Set the status to Approved once the change is agreed.
  2. The adjusted contract sum on the dashboard updates immediately.
  3. Rejected variations stay on the record rather than disappearing, so the history of what was proposed survives.

Certify it in a valuation

Under JCT a variation is valued in the periodic valuation, as a line in the certificate. Keeping variations in a parallel list and paying them separately is how retention on them quietly goes missing.

  1. Open the certificate you are preparing.
  2. Use + Add Variations. QScope lists approved variations not already in this certificate and asks you to confirm.
  3. They appear as normal valuation lines. Value them by percentage or fixed sum.
  4. Retention is deducted once, in the certificate.
Once a variation is in a certificate, its Payment field changes to Through valuations and can no longer be marked Paid. That is deliberate: marking both would count the same money twice.

Following progress on a variation

The variation record shows how much of it has been certified and how much is still to certify, as a figure and as a percentage. The list of variations shows the same as a badge, so you can see at a glance which changes have been paid for and which have not.

Paying a variation outside a certificate

Some contracts do settle a change separately. If yours does, leave the variation out of the certificate and mark it Paid on its own record, with the date.

You can set a retention rate on the individual variation, including zero. Loss and expense is normally not subject to retention, and that is exactly what the field is for.

If you are on FIDIC rather than JCT

The steps above assume a JCT job, where an architect's instruction authorises the change and you certify it inside the periodic valuation. On the FIDIC Red Book the chain runs through the Engineer: the Engineer instructs the Variation under Clause 13, the Variation Procedure runs under 13.3, measured work is valued under Clause 12 and daywork under 13.6.

Record it the same way. Set the contract clause to the FIDIC reference rather than a JCT one, and the approved variation is carried into the Statement instead of a JCT valuation. Counting on FIDIC is in calendar days, and there is no pay-less notice.

The jurisdiction dates and tax rates QScope shows for a country are published starting points. Confirm them against the Particular Conditions and local law before you rely on them.

Printing it for the client

Each variation prints on your letterhead with the description, the reason, the basis of valuation and the amount, ready to be issued as a confirmation of instruction.

Keep reading

Related

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