Extra work and change control guide

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Use this kit when you are asked to do work that is not in your contract, or when you have already done extra work and the price is disputed.

Do these three things today

1. Before you start extra work, get the scope, price and time effect agreed in writing with the Construction Change Order.
2. If you were told to do it verbally, confirm the instruction in writing the same day with the Verbal Instruction Confirmation.
3. Record actual labour, materials and equipment every day in the Extra Work Daily Log, under one change number.

Silence is not approval. Do not assume unsigned extra work will be paid, and do not assume it will not be.

What is in this kit

Describe the change before pricing it

Use this kit when an instruction, concealed condition or client selection may change contracted work. Start with the approved baseline and identify the exact addition, deletion or substitution. A change request, signed daily ticket and invoice serve different purposes; none should silently replace the required authorization process.

• Assign one change ID and revision number; retain superseded versions.
• Compare original drawings, specification, quantities and exclusions with the proposed work.
• Record who requested the change, their role and evidence of authority.
• Identify whether work is estimated, requested, approved, completed, invoiced or disputed; these stages can overlap and must be recorded separately.
• Check notice and authorization clauses before routine extra work. Obtain project-specific advice where instructions or deadlines conflict.

Decision point

If scope or authority is unclear, ask a specific question and record the response. If urgent protective work is necessary, record the hazard, action, limits and instruction as they occurred. Do not convert urgency into an assumed agreement about price or responsibility.

Build an auditable price

Use the pricing calculator for signed quantities multiplied by non-negative unit costs. Enter additions as positive quantities and omissions as negative quantities. Record labour hours, material units, equipment hours and subcontract amounts under separate unique cost IDs.

The calculator applies overhead and markup independently to direct cost. It does not compound markup on overhead. Enter explicit zero rates if none apply. If your contract uses a different basis, revise and review the calculation before using the price; do not silently substitute this convention.

Fictional estimate

Labour CAD 800, materials CAD 500, equipment CAD 100, subcontract CAD 200 and an omission of CAD 100 produce direct cost CAD 1,500. At illustrative overhead 10% and markup 5%, both on direct cost, the subtotal is CAD 1,725 before tax. These rates are fictional pricing assumptions, not market or legal defaults.

• Remove included base-scope work and avoid counting subcontract labour again as direct labour.
• Compare revised quantities against the original; use only the net change once.
• State tax treatment, exclusions, quote validity and any allowance or cap.
• Record schedule effects with affected activity, dependency and mitigation; a duration increase is not automatically a project extension.

Authorize record and request payment

Use the change request to seek a decision and the change order to record agreed scope, price and schedule. Confirm verbal instructions promptly in writing and ask for explicit confirmation or correction. Silence is not treated as approval by these templates.

• Record approved revision, authorized name, capacity, date and evidence.
• Keep daily actual quantities and delivery records linked to the change ID.
• Distinguish requested price from approved value and from invoiced gross amount.
• Allocate credits and payments once. Disputed and holdback amounts are portions of the balance, not extra charges.
• For disputed work, assemble the instruction, authority, performance, pricing and contrary evidence; obtain review without assuming unsigned work is payable or non-payable.

The payment request is not a statutory notice or adjudication filing. Statutory timing, consumer rights and contractual entitlement remain for qualified review.

Before you act: this document is general information prepared by ArtBuild to help you organise facts and paperwork. It is not legal advice and has not been reviewed by a lawyer for your situation. Rules differ by province and territory and change over time. Check the official source for your project, and for deadlines, liens, court or insolvency steps, speak with a lawyer licensed where the project is located.