Free templates / Construction

Change Order Template (Excel)

A free Excel change order form and log for contractors: describe the change and what originated it, price it line by line, apply overhead, profit and bond, and show its effect on the contract sum and time.

Download the Excel template

Free, no sign-up. Opens in Excel, Google Sheets and LibreOffice.

Mirage does this work from your own documents. See change order automation

Who uses it, and when

Contractors' project managers prepare change orders; owners, their representatives and the architect review and sign them. Subcontractors use the same structure to price their own change requests to the general contractor, which then marks them up and forwards them.

Cost engineers and owner's auditors use the log at the end of the job to reconcile the final contract sum: every movement in it should trace to a signed change order, and every change order to the document that originated it.

What is in the file

Change order: Number, project, contract, date, origin and reference, description and reason; a cost breakdown in labor, material, equipment and subcontract; overhead, profit and bond rates; the contract sum before and after; the change in contract time; and the signatures.
Change order log: One row per change order with its status, the amount requested and approved, the days, and a running contract sum that moves with approved changes only.
Instructions: How to fill it, step by step.

Column by column

Number, date, project, contract: Sequential numbering per contract, the date of the document and the contract it amends.
Originated by and reference: Who asked for the change and in which document: an owner request, an architect's supplemental instruction or bulletin, an RFI answer, a field condition report.
Description and reason: What changes in the work, in the terms of the drawings and specifications, and why. A reviewer should understand the change without opening another file.
Item, quantity, unit: One line per element of the change, measured like the original estimate.
Labor, material, equipment, subcontract: The cost of each line by type. Keeping them apart is what lets the owner check rates and quantities against the contract's unit prices or rates.
Overhead, profit and bond: The rates your contract allows on changes, entered once, applied to the subtotal.
Contract sum before and after: The original sum, the net of previous change orders, this change, and the new contract sum.
Contract time change: Days added or removed, and the new substantial completion date.
Change order log: One row per change order with its status, the amount requested and approved, the days, and a running contract sum that moves with approved changes only.

How to use it

Describe the change and what originated it: an owner request, an architect's bulletin, an RFI answer or a field condition.
Price it line by line in labor, material, equipment and subcontract.
Apply the overhead, profit and bond rates your contract allows.
Show the new contract sum and the change in contract time, and have it signed before the work proceeds, as your contract requires.
Record it in the log; the running contract sum moves with approved changes only.

Limits

A generic working document: it does not reproduce any standard form, such as the AIA G701 change order. AIA and G701 are trademarks of The American Institute of Architects; this template is not affiliated with the AIA.
Your contract decides which form is used, who signs and which markups are allowed. Every rate is left empty.

A worked example

Change order 007, originated by RFI 014 (duct reroute at grid C/4). Labor 1,120 (16 hours at 70), material 610 (fittings and insulation), equipment 0, subcontract 0: subtotal 1,730. Overhead 10%, profit 5% and bond 1% on the subtotal add 276.80: total 2,006.80. Original contract sum 4,250,000, previous change orders +38,400, new contract sum 4,290,406.80. Contract time: no change.

In the log, change order 007 is entered as Pending with 2,006.80 requested. The running contract sum does not move until the owner approves it; if the owner approves 1,900 after negotiation, that is the figure entered in the approved column.

Mistakes to avoid

Proceeding with changed work on a verbal instruction. Most contracts require a written change order or directive first, and an unsigned change is hard to recover later.
Pricing a change without the time. A change that adds work on the critical path adds days, and the time claim is usually lost if it is not made with the price.
Applying markups the contract does not allow, or compounding them when the contract says otherwise.
One change order for several unrelated changes. Each should be reviewable and approvable on its own.
Counting pending change orders in the contract sum. The running total moves with approved changes only.

Questions

What is a change order in construction?

A written agreement, signed after the contract, that changes the work, the contract sum, the contract time, or several of them. It records what changed, why, and what it costs.

What should a change order include?

Its number and date, the project and contract, a description of the change and what originated it, the price broken down by cost type with the agreed markups, the new contract sum, the change in contract time, and the signatures of the parties.

What is the difference between a change order and a change directive?

A change order records a change the parties have agreed on, price and time included. A construction change directive, as AIA contracts call it, orders a change before price or time is agreed, so the work can proceed while they are settled.

Who signs a change order?

The parties the contract names, typically the owner and the contractor, and under AIA-style contracts the architect as well.

Can overhead and profit be added to a change order?

Usually, at the rates the contract allows. Many contracts set those rates or cap them; the template leaves them empty for that reason.

How long does a change order take to approve?

As long as the contract and the parties allow: some contracts set a response period for the owner, many do not. What shortens it is a complete package: a clear description, the originating document, a priced breakdown the owner can check against contract rates, and the time impact supported by the schedule. Incomplete change orders come back with questions, and each round trip adds a week.

What is a forward-priced change order?

One priced and agreed before the work is done, as opposed to time-and-materials, where the work is recorded as it happens and priced afterwards. Forward pricing gives the owner certainty and the contractor the risk; time-and-materials needs daily tickets signed by the owner's representative.

Changes traced to their source

This template prices a change you have already identified. Mirage deploys AI agents that tie each change back to the drawings, specification clauses, contract scope and quantities that created it, for your team to review.

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